Months went by, and Lorelai was never spanked again after Joan threatened Richard. Summer was on the verge of arriving, and Lorelai was about to turn fourteen. So many things awaited the bright minded young girl, as she prepared for high school next fall. Karl, on the other hand, had failed most of his classes and would be forced to repeat the 8th grade. Cecelia of course would never uphold a statement that Karl was incompetent. He was merely bored and restricted, that's why he didn't do well. The boarding school that he had previously told Lorelai about was ironically meant for him. It was "a splendid opportunity for Karl to enrich his education and social skills" as Cecelia would say.
Lorelai had learned the best way to stay out of the line of fire with Cecelia was to completely stay away from her and Richard all together. It was impossible to catch Richard alone. Cecelia would always be there, sitting on his lap, or standing over his shoulder. Lorelai honestly believed they went to the bathroom together.
The most disturbing thing Lorelai had been forced to deal with was that every afternoon at 4:00, when Richard came home from work, he and Cecelia would go straight to the bedroom. Lorelai could assume what they were doing, but after a while one wouldn't have to assume at all because the noises were so loud and intolerable a deaf man could here them. Every afternoon at 4:00, Lorelai made it a point to leave the house to spare herself.
Joan had managed to keep herself silent. There were many more days she just wanted to blurt it out and have it over with already, but Richard had never again harmed Lorelai, so Joan figured it best to let it be. Joan had been occupied with birthday plans for Lorelai. She knew that Lorelai's birthdays were usually gloomy. They brought back sad memories of Emily and the fact that Emily passed away only days after Lorelai's birthday certainly didn't help. But this year, Joan was going to be sure Lorelai had a good no a great birthday. She had been making plans with Richard to take Lorelai to a concert. At First, Richard frowned heavily upon the idea, but slowly began to accept it.
Lorelai's taste in music was spectacular in Joan's opinion. She loved all the bands that Joan secretly listened to in her room at night. In fact, Lorelai had sneaked into Joan's room several times and borrowed her tapes. Van Halen had always been her favorite, and as luck would have it, they were going to be performing in Hartford the weekend before Lorelai's birthday. After several calls Joan had finally scored two tickets. She could hardly wait for Lorelai's reaction.
"I don't understand the music teenagers listen too these days." Richard grumbled.
Joan smiled. "You should give it a try Mr. Gilmore, you may like it."
"No thank you, I'll stick with The Beatles any day."
"Oh, The Beatles are wonderful." Joan replied. "I have one of their old records, I've listened to it so much it barely plays now days."
"You like The Beatles?" Richard asked.
"Of course."
"And you like this…" Richard paused to think of what it was called. "Van Halen?"
"Yep." Joan answered.
"That's intriguing that you can listen to both types of music." Richard noted.
Joan smirked "All the more reason you should give Van Halen a chance."
"I'll think about it." Richard replied as he opened his paper.
Lorelai came bursting through the kitchen. He hair was teased as high as she could get it, and she was wearing a Van Halen t-shirt with black converse sneakers.
"My god, you look you're going out for Halloween." Richard said as he peaked over his paper.
"Dad, it's called style." Lorelai replied. "Are you ready Joan?" Lorelai asked excitedly.
"Almost." Joan replied as she finished labeling the food containers. "There we go. That takes care of dinner for tonight."
Richard cleared his throat, "Lorelai I want to get a few things straight with you before you leave…"
Lorelai sighed. "I know, Dad… stay with Joan. Do as she says. Don't talk to strangers…"
"Yes all of those things are important." Richard replied. "But most importantly, have a wonderful time."
Lorelai smiled. "Thanks, Dad."
"Well, we'd better get going…" Joan said as she slipped off her apron to reveal Lorelai's matching Van Halen t-shirt. "We'll want to get a good parking spot."
"Bye Dad." Lorelai replied as she quickly hurried out the door.
"Home by 1:00 am." Richard reminded Joan.
"Not a minute later." Joan answered as she followed after Lorelai.
At the concert, Lorelai was ecstatic. She kept yelling things out to Joan, but the music and crowd were so loud it was impossible to hear anything.
"This is so awesome!" Lorelai yelled as loud as she could.
"What!" Joan asked in return.
"I said this is so awesome!"
"What!"
"Never mind, I'll tell you later!" Lorelai focused her attention back to the stage.
After the concert, Lorelai and Joan made their way out to the car. Joan gazed down at her watch.
"It's already 12:30." Joan mumbled as she looked ahead at all the people standing in front of them.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Dad will understand if we're a few minutes late." Lorelai reassured. "We'll just explain to him that the exit lines were so long it took longer to leave. Did you see how nice he was this evening? He's in a good mood… maybe he's finally starting to…"
"Lorelai, I promise Mr. Gilmore I would have you home at exactly 1:00. We have to find a quicker way out of here." Joan cut off Lorelai's rambling. She knew Richard had sincerely changed, and that if they weren't back by exactly 1:00 there would be hell to pay.
Lorelai looked around. She spotted a woman's bathroom. "Come on." Lorelai tugged on Joan's hand.
"Where are we going?"
"To the bathroom."
"Lorelai, can't you hold it till we get out of here?"
Lorelai pushed open the bathroom door. "There…" Lorelai pointed. "We can crawl out the window."
Joan stared at the bathroom window. She let out a deep sigh and walked towards it. "I'll give you a boost."
Lorelai laughed. "This is so cool." She replied as she scaled the bathroom wall.
Joan pulled into the driveway at exactly 1:00. She glanced over at Lorelai who had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. She reached over and nudged her.
"Hey." Joan whispered. "Hey."
Lorelai's eyes slowly opened. "I fell asleep…" Lorelai said blankly. "I didn't even realize I was tired."
"You had quite an exciting evening…" Joan replied. "Come on, let's get inside."
The two girls walked inside. Lorelai hugged Joan goodnight and thanked her again for the great evening, then headed straight up to her room. Joan yawned and headed towards the kitchen. She opened the door and was startled to see Richard sitting at the table.
"Oh, Mr. Gilmore, I didn't expect to see you." Joan replied as she walked over pulled some leftovers out of the fridge."
"Just making sure you two came home safely." Richard replied. "1:00 on the dot." He added. "Very good."
"How was your evening?" Joan asked as she sat down across from Richard.
"Oh, the usual." Richard answered. "Karl was a bit upset that Lorelai go to go to a concert. Cecelia has made plans to take him to a theme park for his birthday in August."
"A theme park… wow." Joan replied.
"It's the least we can do, he'll be shipped off to boarding school this fall."
Joan nodded her head. "You don't seem too sorry to see him go."
Richard sighed. "Honestly, I'll consider it a relief. One child in the house is more than enough. I thought about perhaps sending Lorelai to boarding school as well, but … well, could you imagine the response I would get if I tried? Lorelai would never settle for something like that."
Joan crossed her fingers. "Well, if you're looking for some time away from Lorelai, I would be more than happy to take care of her for a while. I have a little money put away, it would be enough to rent a small place near by." Joan couldn't believe she had just suggested this idea. It was too late now, she had to follow through with it.
Richard didn't reply immediately, instead he sat back in his chair and placed his hand under his chin. "No, I don't think that would be a very good idea. Lorelai and you alone for a long period of time would result in her figuring out things she has no business knowing."
Joan forced a smile. "You're probably right. I don't know what I was thinking." She stood from the table. "Well, it's late. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."