Summary: After he loses his job, Richard, Emily and a 15-year old Lorelai are moving to Stars Hollow.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to ASP and the WB!
Author's Note: Took a little while (well actually a big little while) but here is chapter 2! One thing: of course I'm not forgetting Rory, and she'll be Christophers... That's all I say! Enjoy reading!
Thanks to pinacoladachick for betaing!
Chapter 2
Lorelai was sitting in her room. Well, actually it wasn't her personalized room yet, because the furniture still hadn't arrived, but it felt like her very own room. It was barely two days ago that she thought that if she would move, she would move on her own – without her parents. Nothing was farther from the truth, because now she was sitting in the room that she was allowed to decorate by herself. She never ever had a little bit of influence in her life, but now she could complete the project 'decorate room' on her own. The idea made her smile.
The Gilmores were lucky the house was pretty much done; Emily especially had a hard time adjusting to the new situation. Luckily their old house was already sold, so they didn't have to live in the gutter, but they couldn't afford diamond doorknobs for example. The new house was small compared to the old one, with two rooms and a bathroom upstairs, and downstairs a living room, a bathroom, a kitchen and an extra bedroom. The extra bedroom was Lorelai's room; her parents' room was upstairs. She felt a new sense of freedom, so far away from her parents. She could do whatever she wanted without having Emily and Richard notice something. She wished Christopher was still with her…
Yesterday, when Lorelai went to Christopher to give him an update on what's going on in her life, it wasn't a nice experience. Christopher and his family already knew what happened, because they had dinner with the Stiles family, and Richard and his family were the biggest conversation topic the evening. Christopher wasn't allowed to associate with Lorelai anymore, because it would hurt his – and his parents - reputation. After a huge fight and being threatening with military school, Chris resigned. So when Lorelai came to see him he was cold and averse toward her.
"I can't see you anymore, Lorelai. I really did love you, but my parents don't want me to see you or your family. You're the losers of the city. I'm sorry…"
Lorelai ran away with the intention of never seeing him again.
Thinking about Chris made the tears come back in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She had better things to do, like reconnoitring Stars Hollow. She just saw a little part of the town when they went to see the house yesterday, and she got the impression that this wasn't an average town; in her neighbours' garden were dozens of gnomes for one, and this morning the blond woman who lived in the house was watching from behind her curtains with a pair of binoculars…scary.
Lorelai walked outside after yelling to her parents that she was going "out". Not yet twenty yards away the crazy-blonde-woman, who was probably in her late-thirties, yelled something to her. She stopped and turned around.
"Sugar, wait a sec! Aren't you one of the new people?" panting she stopped in front of Lorelai. "I'm Babette! Your neighbour. And you are…"
"Lorelai, nice to meet you." Lorelai smiled politely.
"Nice to meet you too, young lady. My, my, you're pretty. How old are you? Did you just move here? Yes of course, I can see that… Where did you move here from?" Babette asked all in one breath.
Choosing to ignore the last question, Lorelai answers: "I'm 15, ma'am. But I really have to go; I want to explore the town a little bit before dinner."
"Of course sugar, I'll see you later. I really want to meet your parents, and I wanna introduce my husband, Morey, to you. Bye doll!" And with that Babette went inside while yelling "Morey! Come down here!"
Not really sure what to think of the lady, who seemed nosy yet sincere, she walked her way to the center of the town. The next encounter with a person was a huge lady with short dark hair who waddled towards here.
"You must be Lorelai! I'm Patricia LaCosta, but call me Ms. Patty. Do you like the town for so far?"
Shocked from the verbal questionnaire Lorelai tried her best to come up with some witty, cute comments, but thanks to the emotionally happenings from the past day, it didn't really worked out the way she wished. "Well, actually I haven't seen that much, I keep running into people. How do you know my name by the way?"
"Small town honey, we know everything in an eyewink." Ms. Patty winked. "How would you like a tour, I think Luke can help you." Not waiting for an answer Ms. Patty shouts to someone across the street. "Luke! Lucas! Come here honey; let me introduce you to Lorelai!"
The boy, who apparently was named Luke, came with his skateboard under his arm toward Ms. Patty and Lorelai.
"How many times do I have to tell anybody? Don't call me Lucas!"
"Sorry honey. Let me introduce you two: Luke, this is Lorelai. Lorelai, this fine young man is Luke. I bet Luke can show you around. Bye dolls!" And with that Ms. Patty waggled away.
"Hi" Luke said a bit unsure. It wasn't usual that new people came to Stars Hollow, and if they did come they were mostly young families. So far there was never a girl around his age, let alone such a pretty one. He didn't know how to do 'normal', 'nonchalant' or at least 'cool', his arms felt like they were twice the size of normal, so he did one hand in his pocket while the other one clasps his skateboard. He felt like an idiot, a loser, a nerd.
"Hey" Lorelai replied with an unknown shyness. She saw he was VERY cute, a little clumsy and probably around her age, maybe a year older. "Emmh… nice, weird town you've got here."
"They're lunatics, all of them." Luke replied with a gruff voice. "It's not that bad though… Don't say I said that."
"Sure... Well, Ms. Patty said you would show me around, but you don't have to. I mean, you probably have something better to do…"
"No, it's okay. The tour should take a minute of ten, not much longer. Small town…" Luke said. "Let me just bring my board home, or to my fathers store, because that's closest. Do you want to come with me? It's part of the tour."
They began to walk towards a couple of stores, and Luke took Lorelai with him into a Hardware store. He greeted his father, introduced Lorelai, and dropped his skateboard in his fathers' office. A minute later they stood outside again. And with that the tour began. While Luke showed her around they talked a little. Lorelai learned that he was sixteen, he's a junior in school, is a big sports fan and while he didn't say it, his words showed his love for Stars Hollow.
The town was even smaller than Lorelai thought it was, and after about five minutes she and Luke arrived at a small lake. Luke told her it was one of his favourite places, because you could think about everything in silent. They sat down on a broken bridge, and Luke told her that there were many town events organized to collect money for repairing the bridge, but the funds haven't been raised yet. Then they sat there together in a comfortable silence.
After a minute or ten it became dark, so they walked together towards Lorelai's house.
"Thanks for the tour, I have the feeling I lived here for years now…" Lorelai said suddenly a bit shy.
"Oh wait 'til school starts tomorrow, you'll feel like a newbie. I'll probably see you then, right? I mean, I guess since you're a year younger you'll be in 10th grade, but Stars Hollow High isn't that big."
"Sure, see you then. Thanks again and bye!" and with that Lorelai moved inside the house, not aware that Luke was watching her walk away, in awe. He really liked this girl, but something in him said to just take it slow by building a friendship.
Emily and Richard sat in the house which was already decorated and moved in, because even if they weren't rich; they could afford a couple of movers. They didn't want a big cultural shock, right?
Lorelai walked into her room and she felt that this, even if her room wasn't finished yet, was more home then ever before. She was very curious about what the next day would bring her, and if her classmates would accept her. Thank god she knew Luke, because she really needed a good friend to help her with this new situation.