Chapter Five

"Did you know that Lane's band was going to be here?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, she asked me yesterday morning if she could be here instead of the diner."

"You mean that poor Caesar is there all by himself?"

"No, I just decided to close the diner for the day. Weston's is open, so . . . ."

Just then Lorelai spotted Kirk and his mysterious partner.

"Does Kirk have any nieces, or cousins?" She interrupted, as she was dancing him toward Kirk and his young partner, who kept dancing away.

"I have no idea. She does look kind of young, doesn't she?"

They finally made their way around to where Miss Patty and Taylor were sitting.

"Okay, Patty, enough of the mystery. Who's the girl?"

"What girl are you talking about? There are lots of girls here."

"Don't play dumb with me, Patty. The girl dancing with Kirk."

"All I know is that her name is Miranda, and she's from Litchfield."

"Litchfield? Why would he go all the way to Litchfield to find a partner?"

"I'm sure I don't know. Why don't you ask Kirk?"

"Because he keeps avoiding me, I can't get near him."

"She's kind of young," Luke commented.

"According to her registration, she's eighteen."

"Eighteen? She doesn't look a day over – fourteen."

"Well, she registered herself. And you know Taylor, if her driver's license said she was eighteen, he made sure she was."

"Come on," Lorelai said to Luke. "We're getting to the bottom of this."

As they danced their way around, trying to catch up to Kirk, Lorelai noticed that Rory was watching Dean and Lindsey, and trying not to let them see that she was.

"Ace, if you're that curious, let's just go over and ask them."

"NO! We can't do that! If they've really gotten back together, I don't want wreck it for them again."

"What do you mean, wreck it again?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Oh, I get it – a secret affair that became not-so-secret."

Rory buried her face in his shoulder, then turned her head just enough to watch them, trying to determine just how "together" they were.

Lorelai and Luke finally managed to come up on Kirk without him seeing them. She reached out and grabbed him by his shirt.

"Okay, Kirk, spill it! Who's the girl?" She then smiled at his partner. "You look like a lovely girl, I'm just curious."

"Oh, this is my Trophy partner. It's going to look really sweet next to all of the other ones."

"If it's not stolen -- again." Luke mentioned.

"Well, there is that."

"Quit stalling, Kirk! Who is she?"

"Lorelai, Luke, I'd like you to meet Miranda Richards. She goes to Litchfield High School, and for three years in a row she's won first place in the tri-county high school, long distance, cross country marathon race -- thing."

He began to laugh.

"She runs at least three miles A DAY! Talk about your stamina! Look at those legs – muscles of steel! Oh, that trophy is mine again!"

And with that, he and Miranda danced away from Lorelai and Luke.

"A Ringer!" Lorelai exclaimed. "He brought in a Ringer! How unfair is that?"

"How unfair is it that I was coerced and pressured into this in the first place?"

But Lorelai wasn't listening. She was staring at Kirk and Miranda with a steely glare, now even more determined to win that trophy.

TBC