The bookstore was empty. Strange, in Rory's mind, though she wasn't sure exactly why. She had spent most of her life amongst other children. Children everywhere, children aof all ages. She had learned to drown out and ignore the constant chatter, the laughter and the crying. Now the air itself barely whispered in her ears, and the world felt somehow hollow.
It was nice.
She walked the wooden floor, up and down each isle, taking her time. The boards creaked in protest at every imprint of her feet, but it didn't feel wrong or loud. She was sure the owner of the store wasn't hising in a corner--silence like this could only be caused by legitimate emptiness. She let her fingers follow her eyes over the endless spines of dusty books, taking in their texture with their title. She inhaled lightly, enjoying the scent of so many pages in one place. No matter where her life took her, this smell remained the same. In a world of change and uncertainty, this was her constant.
She heard the door open, and somebody entered the shop. She kept walking, quietly disappointed that the world had returned to normal with the arrival of another person. As she walked slowly down the isle, she noticed that the newcomers footsteps were echoing hers on the other side of the wooden shelf. She ignored it, pausing to pull out a book and look through it. Her eyes drifted over the page, then back up to the empty space where the book had sat a moment ago. A pair of dark eyes peered at her. When her eyes met them, they smirked a little and disappeaed. Her follower was walking once again. She replaced the book and started moving. She raked the floor with her gaze, and just barely, through the holes between books, could make out two converse clad feet walking in unison with her own.
She wasn't the sort to play games. Instead of continuing this puzzling pattern, she strode briskly to the end of the bookshelf and rounded the corner. She found herself face to face with a character, for lack of better description.
He had the dark hair, dark eyes. Skinny torn jeans and a bandshirt matched a sarcastic expression and calculating gaze. He was so much a caricature that Rory almost smiled, almost. Instead--
"What do you want?" she asked directly, staring straight at him.
"Pardon?" He asked innocently. She didn't buy it for a second.
"Why are you stalking me? Or are you actually looking to read about childbirth?" He glanced at the title over his head, labeling the section they stood in. He grinned.
"Observant one, aren't you?"
"Thinking about having a baby?"
"I don't believe I've seen you here before."
"You don't say."
"In a town with population twelve, it's the sort of thing you notice."
"Gee, I'm flattered." Rory deadpanned.
"So--what, you're visiting for the charming idyllic views of...grass? Monotony?"
"Can't you just be a normal person? Can't you just shake my hand, introduce yourself, and welcome me to Stars Hollow?"
"I'm unconventional."
"You're annoying."
The guy sighed. "To each their own, I suppose. I don't hear you announcing your identity either."
"Rory."
"Just Rory?" She paused before answering.
"Gilmore. Rory...Gilmore." The words felt strange on her tongue, but she supposed it was only to be expected. She waited for her assailant to make the next move, to ask some question about her relationship to Lorelai. It never came. After appraising her in silence, the dark haired guy reached out his hand. She took it, never breaking him gaze. He shook her hand twice, pointedly.
"Hi, I'm Jess." He said slowly, as if speaking to a child. "Welcome to Stars Hollow." Rory couldn't help it--she flushed underneath his eyes, and wished she would look away. She didn't. After a moment of silence, he reclaimed his hand and turned on his heel, and left the bookstore.
-
Rory reentered the diner to a tense scene. Luke stood over Lorelai, his face a dark mask. She sipped at her coffee and ignored him. Other townspeople ate quietly, laughing and arguing and looking for all the world like this was life, and they were satisfied. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, Rory walked over to her new guardian. Lorelai looked up and her face brightened.
"Child! Did you find anything at the bookstore?"
"Not really, but I can go back another time."
"We, we have a very special day planned."
"We do?" Rory asked.
"Yes. We get to clean out your room, and go buy room things. Bed sheets, posters, clothes hangers for your little closet, it'll be like that Sims game. Only bigger!"
Rory smiled at the woman's excitement.
"Sounds great."
Oh, sure, it sounded great. But at looking upon the room she was destined to stay in, Rory wasn't sure how accurate her original assessement had been. The room was piled to the brim with boxes and boxes or the most random idiosyncratic objects she had ever seen in her life. There was a giant rubber fish, countless headless barbie dolls, what appeared to be half a surfboard, an excersize bike, two manicans, and more. Rory had never believed so much pointlessness could be collected in one place, yet here it was--the largest lost and found in the world.
"What is all this?" She asked, picking up a cuckoo clock and dropping it back in it's box when it began chirping madly at her.
"My left overs. I couldn't find rooms to put it all in, so it ended up here."
"What do we do with all of it?"
"I suppose we can throw some of it out, and find somewhere else for the really important stuff."
Rory nodded and reached for the closest item sure to be trashed.
"No!" Lorelai objected, "Not my James Dean cutout! He doesn't deserve that!"
"You want to keep him!"
"Yes. Definitely." Lorelai snatched the cardboard man from Rory and hugged it, murmering in it's cardboard ear quiet soothing reassurances. Rory reached for a box filled with sequined plastic clothing, and looked questioningly at Lorelai.
"But what if mod comes back? Those are vintage staples, girly." Rory smiled and rolled her eyes, and picked up a roll of bubble wrap.
"What about this?"
Lorelai pouted. "But it's so...fun! What if I get the urge one day to pop some bubble wrap, and I've thrown it away?"
"Are you really going to keep all of this? Where will you put it?"
"Well..." she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I never use my garage anyway..." Rory smiled.