"And then he walked me to the front porch-"
"But I thought that the porch light doesn't work?"
Lorelai waved a dismissive hand, almost disturbing the mug of coffee that sat at her elbow. "He fixed it last week. Anyway so we were on the front porch and he kissed me." She sighed, wistfully. "And then he asked me if I wanted to go out with him on Saturday."
Rory stared at her mother for a minute before narrowing her eyes and leaning back in her chair. "This is your big news? That Luke asked you out again?" She rolled her eyes. "He's your boyfriend; of course he wants to go out with you!"
"We have dinner with the devil on Saturday." She wrinkled up her nose at the thought of dinner with her parents. Despite having to go once a week, it never got easier.
"Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa is on Friday." She tilted her head, letting her long hair brush against her shoulder. "You okay, Mom? We've been having Friday Night Dinners for a long time now."
Lorelai shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. "They changed it this week, remember? They're having their annual 'Let's Make Lorelai's Life Miserable' party and, as the guests of honour, we have to attend."
Rory rolled her eyes at her mother. "I'm sure that they planned the party specifically to ruin your life, Mom. Everything they do is directly related to make you miserable."
"It's true!" Her mother insisted. "And the sooner that you learn that, the better off you'll be."
"Have you guys decided what you want yet?" Luke asked, saving Rory from having to reply to her mother.
"You," Lorelai said her voice low as she looked up at her boyfriend through fluttering lashes.
"Not while I'm working." Rory screwed up her face, trying to ignore the insinuation that more went on while he wasn't working.
Lorelai pouted, looking towards her daughter for support who shook her head. "I'll have a double cheeseburger and fries, no lettuce on the burger." She paused. "Actually make it curly fries." There was another pause. "Actually make them chilli fries." She tilted her head in thought as Luke sighed, his pen on his pad on paper ready to write. "But if Rory and I are going shopping, I probably want to hold off on the chilli fries." She looked towards her daughter for agreement who nodded vigorously.
"Cheeseburger and fries coming up," Luke interrupted, turning towards Rory before Lorelai could say anymore. "What can I get you?"
"The same except onion rings instead of fries please Luke." Rory smiled sweetly as Luke left to place their orders.
"Okay, so do we have a plan for today?" Lorelai leaned forward in her seat, careful not to upset the mug sitting in front of her.
Rory thought for a minute. "I thought that we'd hit the shops in New Haven before coming back here for a movie night. There's this really cute new store that I have been dying to go to."
Lorelai grinned. "Sounds good but I want to make a stop at that store that we went to last month. I want to return the shirt that I bought."
Rory frowned in thought. "The blue one? It looked great on you."
Her mother shook her head, taking a sip of her coffee. "It looked good in the store but after I got home and looked in the mirror it just didn't work for me. I looked mediocre and everybody knows that I can do much better than mediocre."
Rory laughed and leaned back as Luke brought them their lunch. "Okay so we'll hit the stores in New Haven, including the place where we're taking back your shirt and then come back here for a movie night."
Lorelai nodded. "That sounds good. Finally, a little time with my daughter!"
Her daughter looked embarrassed. "We spend lots of time together," she insisted, feeling guilty for blowing off nights with her mom in the summer to spend time with Tristan instead.
Lorelai opened her mouth to protest but then looked up to see the guilty expression on her daughter's face. Sighing, she took a sip of her coffee before replying. "Yeah, I'm just overreacting, kid. Two days apart seems like forever."
Rory smiled, relieved. "Well you're stuck with me this weekend." She paused. "Except for tomorrow night when we're apparently both stuck at Grandma's party."
Lorelai groaned in response.
-
Tristan tossed his bags into the back of his car, ready for the trek to Hartford once again. His mother had phoned him the previous night and had made him feel guilty enough to agree to come home for the weekend even though there wasn't another Dugrey family dinner for another couple of weeks. It hadn't taken her long to convince him to drive up, however, as he was already contemplating going to meet Rory's new wannabe-boyfriend. Rory may be oblivious to the feelings that Logan had for her, but Tristan could tell even without meeting the guy.
"Tristan!" called a voice from behind him.
He turned around to see Caitlyn standing there with a smile on her face, her hair thrown up haphazardly. "Hey Cait," he said with a grin.
Her eyes flicked from his packed car to his face and back. "Going somewhere?" she asked, walking towards him slowly, adding a little extra swing in her hips. Just because he had decided that ultimately they were better off friends didn't mean that she wasn't going to make him regret that decision.
Tristan nodded, running a hand through his already messy hair. "Yeah, I'm going home for the weekend."
Caitlyn frowned and slipped her hands into the pockets in her jeans. "I thought that you went home last weekend?"
"I did. My mom wanted me to come home again." He shrugged self consciously.
Caitlyn smiled softly at him, ignoring the pang in her heart. She hated that he was so sweet, that he would go all the way home just because his mother missed him. And she hated that he obviously wasn't as into her as she was into him. Sighing, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and thought for a minute before making a decision. "Do you want to go grab some lunch before you go?" she asked, trying to look irresistible to him.
He smiled back at her and checked his watch for time. "Yeah, I'd like that."
"Tristan!" called a female voice for the second time behind him.
Turning, Tristan could only feel dread as he came face to face with the girl who he had spent the last couple of days with. He knew that nothing good could come out of her and Caitlyn meeting.
"Hey Mallory," he said, trying to act casual. Ignoring the way Caitlyn's eyes narrowed was harder than it looked.
"Hey." She smiled at him before looping her hands around his neck and giving him a quick kiss.
He pulled away rather quickly, not wanting to rub it in Caitlyn's face. After talking to Curtis and other mutual friends it had become clear that she was still not over him. Pretending to be oblivious to her feelings seemed to be his only option and he was getting quite good at it. He turned to face Caitlyn, ready to make introductions and hopefully smooth things over. But when he turned, there was nothing he could say to make things better.
She was already gone.
-
"I'm bored," complained Steph to an uninterested audience. After spending the last hour watching her boyfriend and his friends playing poker and flirting with the girls that had shown up, she was itching to leave.
"Go find something to do then," Colin replied, taking a swig of his beer. Steph rolled her eyes, wondering why she was friends with them for the millionth time.
"C'mon, it's only three. Why don't you guys take a break and take the game back up in an hour or two?"
Logan rolled his eyes. "Give it up Steph. We're not stopping the game in the middle." He frowned at Robert, trying to see past his poker face.
"Finn," she whined, turning towards her boyfriend and running a hand through his hair.
"Steph," he whined back. "We can hang out tonight, love. I promised the guys that we'd have the game today."
She stood up, flipping her hair and scowling. None of the guys looked up and she made her way towards the door. "Fine, I'll go find someone else to do!"
"Don't you mean 'something else to do'?" Finn called after her as she reached the door.
A smirk was plastered on her face as she turned her head to look at her boyfriend. "I stand by what I said."
Opening the door, she stepped out into the cool air and looked around. Honestly, she had no clue what to do. Most of her friends were busy and almost everyone else was in the room that she had just vacated. Steph grinned as a brilliant thought hit her. When in doubt, go shopping!
Almost a half hour later, she was aimlessly wandering around the shops in New Haven. Shopping was never as much fun by yourself, she had quickly realized but that hadn't stopped her yet. Spotting a store with a really cute blue dress displayed in the window, she cut across the street, ignoring all jaywalking laws.
The bell on top of the door made a sound as she made her way towards the back where she could see the dress hanging on a rack. Before she got very far, a voice behind her called out.
"Stephanie!"
She looked up to see Rory standing there, barefoot and wearing the blue dress. Trying to squelch the jealousy as she saw that her friend looked better in the dress than she ever could, she smiled and made her way over.
"Hey," she replied with a smile. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good." Rory smiled back, looking at her self in the mirror. She frowned slightly and turned to see how she looked from a different angle.
"I love the dress," Steph gushed. "That was actually why I came into this store."
Rory laughed, looking back at her friend. "Me too. Well actually my mom dragged me into this store because of this dress."
"It looks great on you," her friend complimented.
"Thanks," she accepted the compliment with a smile. "I'm not sure whether I'm going to get it, though."
"You're getting it," half sang a voice from behind a rack of black dresses. Lorelai emerged a second later with a short black dress in her hands which she held up against her and thrust out a hip. "What do you think?" she asked, striking another pose. "Short enough to give my mom a heart attack?"
Rory contemplated for a moment, putting a finger to her chin to emphasis the deep thought that she was in. "Something's missing."
"Fishnets and stilettos," Steph put in, running an eye up and down the dress critically. "And maybe a slit up to the thigh."
Lorelai looked at the new arrival for a moment before smiling. "I never got your name."
"Sorry," Rory said looking sheepish. "Mom this is Steph. Steph this is my mom, Lorelai."
"It's nice to meet you." Steph smiled at Lorelai as Rory went back into the changing room, after examining the dress that she was wearing from every angle.
"It's nice to meet you too." Lorelai looked around the store, realizing that there was no one there that she expected would be friends with Steph. "Are you here by yourself?"
She nodded. "Yeah, my friends have a very important poker game today and I needed to get out." She rolled her eyes. "I couldn't find anything else to do."
Lorelai nodded. "When in doubt, go shopping. You should come with us."
Steph immediately started to decline, not wanting to interrupt a mother-daughter bonding day. "No, it's fine. I don't mind shopping by myself."
Lorelai shook her head. "It's always more fun in groups and Rory doesn't mind if you come along, do you babe?" she called in the direction of the changing rooms.
"I don't mind!" Rory called back, her voice slightly muffled.
Steph grinned. "Okay sure, sounds like fun."
Lorelai smiled back. "Great, now you seem to have good authority on what will give mothers heart attacks. I could use you."
-
"I like her," Lorelai said, fiddling with the volume of the car radio until the sound was loud enough that people in passing cars were glancing over.
"I'm glad," Rory replied, turning the volume down a little. Her mother immediately turned it back up and she glared, pretending to be mad.
Ten minutes later they were pulling up outside of the grocery store to get some supplies for their movie night. Rory closed the car door behind her, careful not to slam it too loud; Taylor was very serious about sound laws.
"So I was thinking that we should pick up some food from Al's as well," Lorelai said as they reached the door to the market.
Rory nodded. "Do you want me to go pick some up now?"
Lorelai nodded. "Yeah, try some first though."
"Al doesn't give out free samples."
"I'm sure someone would be willing to share their dinner with you."
Rory scrunched up her nose. "That's gross, who knows what diseases would be on the food?"
Lorelai laughed. "Yeah, that's almost as bad as bathroom mints," she teased.
"I was nervous, okay!" She pushed her laughing mother gently.
"Yeah, sure," Lorelai said, still laughing. "I'll meet you back at the car in ten minutes, okay?"
Rory nodded and walked down the sidewalk towards Al's. Wrapping her arms around her midsection to ward off the cold, she let her mind drift. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice the two people heading towards her until she was almost on top of them.
She looked up, her eyes widening. "Oh, hey Dean, hey Lindsay," she said, trying to smile.
"Hi," Lindsay replied quietly, smiling back. Dean merely nodded before looking away, still ashamed by the memories that surfaced when he saw Rory.
"How are things going?" Rory asked awkwardly, wishing that she could think of an excuse to get out of there.
"Well," Lindsay's smile widened as she exchanged a look with her husband, eager to share the news with anyone who would listen, even if it was her husband's ex-girlfriend. "I'm pregnant."
Rory could feel her mind go blank, overloaded by all the thoughts that had raced through her mind in a matter of seconds. "Wow… that's great. Congratulations." Her smile felt fake and she hated it, thinking that she was completely over Dean, over everything that happened. She should be happy for them.
"Thanks Rory," Dean said quietly, wrapping an arm around his beaming wife.
Rory attempted to smile again and was confident that this time it looked less like a grimace. "I should be going, my mom's expecting me back with Al's…" she trailed off, almost waiting for permission to leave.
Lindsay and Dean nodded and she turned and walked down the sidewalk, not looking back. And she knew that that chapter in her life was over. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, knowing that any remaining piece of her that was still idealizing her sixteen-year-old self's relationship was gone. Even though in some ways she felt relieved, some pain still lingered.
And if a few tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and slipped down her cheeks, there was no one around to judge her for it.
-
Rory stood in the corner of the party, sipping champagne and watching the partygoers. The waiter who was walking around with trays of champagne flutes had looked doubtful when she had reached for one but had refrained from asking her age. Rory was grateful to escape that humiliation and had vowed to make her current glass last as long as possible just in case she wasn't as lucky the next time.
After a moment of watching people mingle, she downed the rest of the champagne and placed the empty glass on a nearby table, not caring that there was no coaster protecting the century old wood. Ever since she had got to her grandmother's party, she had been antisocial, not caring that it was impolite. Her mother had somehow gotten out of the get together and was out with Luke instead, leaving Rory to fend for herself.
Slipping past cliques of people, she finally made it to the doors leading to outside and pushed them open, following the path until she reached the pool house. She had it on good authority that her grandparents kept a spare key under the flower pot in case of emergencies. It only took her a minute or so to find it and she slipped it into the lock and pushed the door open, kicking off her shoes in the process. Immediately she flopped down on the couch, curling her legs up underneath her, closing her eyes and leaning her head back.
It was a little less than five minutes later that she heard footsteps and felt the presence of someone in the room with her. She didn't bother opening her eyes, knowing that they would say something eventually. Her body jerked a little in shock when she felt the couch sink down a little to her right.
"Are you alright, Mary?" asked a familiar voice, causing Rory to open her eyes in surprise.
"Tristan!" she squealed, showing enthusiasm for the first time since she had run into Dean and Lindsay the previous night. She leaned over and hugged him, holding on tight and pressing her face into his chest.
It was only once she had pulled back and he was wiping tears from her cheeks that she realized that she was even crying.
-
Logan Huntzberger was bored, meaning that he was at another of his mother's friend's parties. He got dragged to one at least once a month, sometimes two or three during the holiday season. This party wasn't turning out too badly as society parties go, however. Finn and Colin had both been invited and he could see more than one person around his age that could be persuaded to come to his sub-parties. Who would really refuse an invited to his sub-party anyway? Huntzberger sub-parties were legendary.
"Emily and Richard have a pool house, don't they Colin?" Logan asked his friend with a smirk on his face.
"I believe they do, Logan. I believe they do," Colin replied, his smirk mirroring Logan's.
"Finn!" he called, quietly enough not to attract unwanted attention.
"Yeah?" Finn sauntered over with Steph in reply.
"Can you find some of Richard's alcohol? I'm sure he has some good stuff stashed away. We'll meet you in the pool house around back."
Finn nodded and headed off to scrounge around Richard's study, knowing from experience that that was where the good stuff was kept. Logan gestured towards his friends and they left, making sure not to pass any of their parents on their way to the door. When they reached the door to the pool house, Steph slipped a bobby pin from her hair, as was custom and Colin went to work on the lock.
Within minutes they were inside flopping down on the couches and kicking off their shoes. Finn arrived shortly after, alcohol in hand and a grin on his face. He settled down beside Steph, leaning his head against hers and smiling. Logan poured each of them a generous glass of scotch and held it up, watching as the others followed his example.
"Cheers," he said, gently touching the glass to everyone else's and laughed as Finn hit his too hard, causing the drinks to spill down everyone's arms. No one cared, for this was tradition, the one constant in their lives.
"Cheers," they all echoed, before taking a sip of their drink and leaning back in their seats, content in their escape from the party.
Only a few minutes had passed when they heard footsteps outside of the pool house and the sounds of a key in the lock. They looked at each other, none of them eager to have to face the person on the other side of the door. There was a mad dash for shoes and glasses and soon everyone was crowded into a bedroom off of the main room.
When five minutes had passed without a sound being made from the room they had just exited, they looked at each other, wondering whether to risk going back. Finn had just taken a step towards the door when they heard a voice from the other room, causing him to jump back as if shocked.
"Are you alright, Mary?"
There was a pause as Logan, Colin, Finn and Steph all pressed their ears up against the door, eager to hear the girl's response.
"Tristan!"
Steph's eyes widened, as did Logan's causing Colin and Finn to look at them questionably.
"Rory?" Steph whispered and Colin and Finn's eyes widened as well.
Why was some guy calling Rory Mary?
They all pressed their ears closer against the door, eager to hear the conversation.
-
"Rory? What's wrong?" Tristan asked softly, wiping the wetness off of his friend's cheeks.
She took a deep breath, trying to suck up the tears that were slipping down her face. "Nothing," she replied sniffling a bit. "What are you doing here?"
Tristan frowned, knowing that something was definitely wrong with her but she wouldn't be Rory Gilmore if she didn't try to run away from her problems, literally or figuratively. "My mom wanted me to come down this weekend and I figure that I could kill two birds with one stone and come to see you as well."
"Aren't you sweet?" Rory asked sarcastically, wiping her cheeks stubbornly. She smiled thankfully when Tristan handed her a Kleenex.
"Seriously, Mare, what's wrong?"
She sighed and flopped back on the couch, closing her eyes. "It's stupid," she dismissed.
"Tell me."
"I saw Dean and Lindsay today." Tristan opened his mouth to say something but Rory continued before he could. "Lindsay's pregnant."
He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Bag boy's procreating?"
Rory laughed softly, her eyes still closed and her head still leaning back against the couch. "She doesn't know," she said quietly.
"What doesn't she know?" He tucked a stray hair behind her ear fondly.
"She doesn't know what happened between Dean and me. She doesn't know that their vows have been broken, he never told her."
Tristan sighed, slinging an arm on the back of the couch. "It's not your fault, Rory."
She shook her head in disagreement. "It takes two. I don't understand how he can just bounce back from everything that happened, how everything can just go back to normal. I mean, what happened between Dean and I changed my life. I wouldn't be so close to you and your family if this hadn't happened, everything would be different."
"Do you regret it?" Tristan asked carefully.
She shook her head again, opening her eyes slightly. "I don't regret becoming friends with you. I regret losing it to him maybe, for thinking that I was in love with him. I regret thinking that he was really going to leave his wife for me. I regret being so naïve." She sighed, moving to lean her head against Tristan's.
"It'll be okay, Mary," he soothed, running a hand down her hair.
"I know." She sighed again. "I just want to put it all behind me."
There was a comfortable silence between the two friends as they contemplated that summer and the event that had to have happened in order for it to be. Tristan's eyes narrowed as he heard a shuffling sound from the other room. Standing up slowly, he gestured to Rory to stay quiet as he stalked towards the door and in one smooth motion; he jerked it open, causing four people to tumble to the floor ungracefully.
"Hi?" one of them offered, awkwardly, staring into Tristan's angry face.
Rory stood up from the couch slowly; her eyes still closed as she wished that she didn't recognize the voice that had just spoke. She turned around, opening her eyes and sighed when she realized that this really wasn't her night.
"Steph, Logan, Finn, Colin?"
"Hey Rory," Steph said, smiling apologetically. The boys avoided her gaze, still sitting on the floor.
"Oh my God," Rory said slowly, backing up slightly. "Oh my God."
"Mary…" Tristan started, taking a step towards her.
"I have to go."
Logan opened his mouth to offer an apology, to beg for forgiveness. He hadn't meant to listen in to her conversation, it had just happened. But there was nothing he could say to convince her of that.
She was already gone.