1Oh my gosh it's another update! Enjoy!
Paris silently freaked out as she stood in her closet searching for something to wear. She was so caught up in freaking out that she actually didn't hear Rory snickering. It wasn't until she grumbled and left the closet did she see her ex-nemesis sitting on her bed grinning from ear to ear. "What's got you giddy Gilmore?"
"He still makes you nervous." Rory answered. She couldn't stop smiling. She hadn't seen Paris like this in a long time. "At least you realize you are going on a date of sorts with him this time."
Paris rolled her eyes. "Did you come here to torture me or did you come here to help me find an appropriate outfit for this afternoon? I'm meeting him in exactly one hour and fifty-seven minutes."
Rory took a second to answer. "Both."
"What do you mean both?" Paris demanded as she made her way back into her closet.
"You asked if I just came her to torture you or if I was going to help you find an appropriate outfit for this afternoon. The answer is both." Rory grinned. She knew she was driving Paris crazy. Paris was sane about most things. Okay so that wasn't true. Still Paris wasn't batshit crazy about most things, but she was for some reason batshit crazy when it came to Jamie.
"Gilmore..." Paris growled. She didn't have time for this nonsense.
Rory threw her hands up in surrender and waved one of her Doyle's T-shirts in the air as a white flag. She then made her way into the closet and sighed. It only took her a moment to find something that would make Jamie struggle to fight the urge to kiss Paris as soon as he saw her.
"He gave me this sweater." Paris told Rory quietly.
"I know he did. You look amazing in that sweater Paris. It brings out the blue in your eyes." Rory knew that for a long time Paris cherished that sweater. Jamie had spent days searching for that sweater to give her as a Christmas gift. He had told her that it had to be the perfect shade of blue.
Paris bit her lip and then nodded. She went into her bathroom to take a quick shower.
"I'll be in the living room while your taking a shower okay." Rory wanted to go back into the room as soon as she saw that Doyle was sitting on the couch. She had a feeling that he was going to quiz her about Jamie. She also had a feeling that he wasn't going to like the answers she was going to provide.
Doyle looked up to see Rory walking out of his bedroom and smiled. He knew Gilmore would give him the scoop on Paris and Jamie. "Morning Gilmore."
"Hey Doyle." Rory sat down in one of the armchairs and slowly started flipping through this morning's copy of the Globe.
"So did Paris find an outfit for her rendevous?" Doyle asked casually.
Rory nodded but didn't look up from the paper.
Doyle furrowed his brows. She was avoiding discussing this with him. She wasn't going to get off that easily. A man who could stick with Paris was a man who didn't give up. "So do you know Jamie?"
Rory once again nodded. Oh Doyle you stubborn little man.
"When did you meet him?" Doyle knew she would have to actually voice a response to this question.
Rory rolled her eyes and then looked up from the paper. There was no way she going to be able to avoid this discussion. "Paris and I met Jamie at a conference in Washington, D.C. the summer before our senior year of high school. Paris and Jamie dated from senior year until she dumped him for Asher. You remember Asher Fleming. Anyway yes they were a serious couple. Yes I thought he was nice guy. Yes he was handsome. He went to Princeton and now he is going to law school. Where? I don't know. Do you have anything to worry about? I don't know."
Doyle had seen that Rory had become more like Paris than he could have ever possibly imagined. He sat there quietly processing all of the information he had just received. It seemed as though Rory liked this Jamie fellow. He knew she wouldn't provide him with anymore information so he sighed. "Thank you for all of that insightful information Gilmore."
"No problem Doyle." Rory closed her eyes as she pretended to be reading the Globe again. She knew that Doyle wanted her to say that he had nothing to worry about and that Paris and Jamie would never get back together but she just couldn't lie to him. She had a feeling that after not getting into Harvard or maybe even before not getting into Harvard Jamie was the biggest regret in her life.
Paris looked at herself in the mirror and understood fully why Rory had chosen this outfit for her. It accentuated everything that was beautiful about her. She knew it didn't bode well for her relationship with Doyle that she was so concerned with looking good for Jamie. She walked into the living room and found Rory pretending to be reading the Globe and Doyle watching an episode of Star Trek. "How do I look?"
Rory smiled as soon as she saw Paris. She had once again made the right choice when it came to what outfit Paris should wear for a date. "Amazing Paris. You look absolutely amazing."
Doyle had never seen Paris wear something so age appropriate before. All he could do was smile and nod. She had left him completely speechless. That tingly feeling left fairly quickly though when he remembered she was wearing the outfit for someone else. "You look lovely Paris." He said and then he left the apartment.
Paris stood there confused not sure what to say or what had just happened. She looked to Rory for an explanation.
"I think he just is struggling with you going out to lunch with Jamie." Rory explained softly.
"I owe it to Jamie. Things ended so badly with him. I treated him like such dirt near the end. He didn't deserve that." Paris admitted. She had been so wrapped up in her relationship with Asher that she had completely forgotten the first boy to treat her like she could be as special as Rory. He had been the first guy to love her for who she was. He thought she was great just the way she was. "I just wish Doyle could understand that."
"He'll get over it soon enough. Still, you should probably head over to the old dorm. You're supposed to meet him in like twenty minutes."
Paris nodded and gave her best friend a tight hug. "Thank you for this Rory."
Rory and Paris left the apartment together. They stood there silent for a moment beside Paris' SUV. Finally Rory cleared her throat. "You're going to do great Paris. Just remember you can say totally crazy things and Jamie won't ditch you."
"How do you know that?"
Rory grinned. "Because he didn't leave you on that first date and I'm sure you made yourself look completely insane."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence no matter how backwards it was." Paris got into her car and waved at Rory before heading toward the school.
Rory watched her go. She didn't know whether she was rooting for a reconciliation between the two first loves or if she was rooting for Paris to stay with Doyle. She had a feeling it was the first one.
Luke had been asleep when Lorelai had returned from Christopher's that night. He didn't even ask her where she was. Lorelai didn't know if she was happy or sad about that. Part of her wanted him to be furious and jealous about the fact that she wasn't there the night before because that meant that he wanted her all to himself. There was this other part of her though that said she wouldn't have been able to tell him the truth even if she tried. She looked at the clock and realized that the diner would probably be nearly empty so she grabbed her keys and hopped into her Jeep. She needed to talk to him just like Christopher had told her to do. She smiled and laughed a bit at the realization that she was taking Christopher's advice. She guessed stranger things had happened before.
Luke stopped wiping down the counter when he saw her walk into the diner. He smiled a little. He hadn't seen her when he got home last night. He figured she had just gone out to clear her head. He knew she was struggling with not seeing Rory as often as she liked. "Hey."
Lorelai smiled and sat down at one of stools. She watched him immediately pull out a cup and pour her some coffee. "Hi."
"So things slow at the Inn or something?" He asked rather awkwardly. Lorelai wasn't normally one to say a sentence containing one word. Okay well one completely normal word.
Lorelai shook her head. "Not really I just thought I'd drop by. I kind of thought we needed to talk about some things."
"What things?"
Lorelai shrugged. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Well it's just things have been a little less than kosher between the two of us lately."
Luke was puzzled. He didn't think things had been any different than they usually were.
"It's just well Luke are we ever going to reset the date?"
Luke frowned. "I thought you said I could have some time to deal with this."
"I did. It's just you've been dealing with this for a while." Lorelai paused. She drank some coffee. "It wouldn't be as bad it's just you've been dealing with this all alone. You've completely shut me out."
"Things are complicated for me right now Lorelai. I'm just trying to connect with April. I mean it's just a lot of work and effort to connect with a kid."
Lorelai stopped herself from scoffing out loud. "I know that Luke. I raised a child myself. I had to connect with Rory too." She paused. She didn't want to sound so harsh. "It's just I'd like meet her. I'd like to know her. I don't want to be there all the time when you spend time with her. It would just be nice to say hi I'm your father's fiancée and it's really nice to finally meet you."
Luke sighed. "Soon. You'll meet her soon. Just I want her to love me a little more before she meets you."
"Why?"
"Because people always love you Lorelai. They love you and they see me as Grizzly Adams or something. You're the woman who can when people over in no time. I mean for God sakes even Mrs. Kim thinks you're a good woman. I just want to know that she likes me before she meets you." Luke admitted.
Lorelai sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She shook her hair and stared at him for a moment. She wasn't sure what she was going to say. "Okay. The thing is Luke things are a bit rocky for us. At least set a date. It doesn't even have to be a super close one. Just a date. I just need a date."
"I can't do that."
Lorelai closed her eyes and shook her head. "Well then sooner or later I'm not going to be able tod this dance."
"Dance?"
"Yeah we're doing a dance right now Luke. It's the cold feet to the altar dance. The thing is things are going down in flames right now Luke and neither one of us are willing to admit it. My daughter and I aren't talking. Sookie is a mom and a wife. She doesn't have time for my problems. You are supposed to be the one person I turn to when I need a shoulder to cry on. But you're not."
Luke furrowed his brow in confusion. "What do you mean I'm not?"
"You're not the person I run to when I feel like I'm drowning."
"Then who is?"
Lorelai bit her lip. She knew he wasn't going to like her answer. "Christopher." She then walked out of the diner, got into her Jeep, and made her way back to the Inn. She wondered if he was reconsidering his inability to set a date. She knew that if she called Christopher and asked him to marry her he would say when and where. If she said tonight in Las Vegas he'd say he'd book the tickets and would meet her at the airport. She knew she couldn't say the same thing about Luke. Shouldn't you want to marry the person you think is worthy of spending the rest of your life as soon as you possibly could?
Paris watched Jamie make his way down the hall. He was even taller than she had remembered. She felt herself get lost in his handsome dark looks all over again. She couldn't help but smile when he hugged her instead of just shaking her hand or greeting her some other awkward way. "So have you decided where we are going to eat?"
Paris looked down at her and smiled. He noticed she was wearing the sweater he had bought her when he found out that she was going to Yale instead of Harvard. It was supposed to be a romantic gesture. Sort of like I found you a blue sweater that will be Yale appropriate but will also bring out the blue in your eyes. At least that had been the idea behind the gift at the time. "You still like Italian food?"
Paris nodded.
"Good because I made reservations at this great place. Well, at least that's what the Zagat guide says."
Paris looked up at him and smirked. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to say your perfect."
"If you'd like to." Jamie said with a wink.
Paris laughed. "Maybe after we leave the restaurant."
Lorelai found Sookie in the kitchen dicing parsley and bossing her staff around. "Hey Sookie got a minute."
"Hey because I like you so much I'll give you two." Sookie joked as she left her station. She joined Lorelai in the empty dining room.
"You say romantic things like that to Jackson?" Lorelai asked with a smile. She loved the banter she shared with Sookie. It was almost as good as the banter she shared with Rory.
Sookie shook her head. "No I save my good stuff like that for you."Sookie noticed that even though Lorelai appeared to be chipper there was something off about her. "So what's up?"
Lorelai looked up at the ceiling for a second and then back down. "I think things are almost over between Luke and I."
"What! Why!" Sookie asked in disbelief.
Lorelai shrugged. "I think I still love Christopher." Lorelai paused.
"Are you serious?"
Lorelai nodded. "He's the only guy who's never really given up on me. He knows me better than I know myself. Luke is so wrapped up in April that he doesn't even notice me anymore. He won't even set a new date. He refuses."
Sookie wrapped her arms around Lorelai and hugged her as tight as she could. She knew that Lorelai was crumbling. "I think you know what you have to do."
"What?" Lorelai asked quietly. She was completely lost as to what step she should take next.
Sookie pulled her friend back so she could look her in the eyes. "Go talk to Rory."
Luke showed up to the Inn twenty minutes later but by then Lorelai was already on her way to Hartford. Sookie didn't tell him where Lorelai had gone mostly because she knew that Lorelai needed to just be with Rory right now.
Lorelai parked her car in the main drive and then slowly but surely made her way to the pool house. She stood fifteen feet away from it for a good five minutes. She was trying to work up the nerve that it was going to take to admit she was wrong and that she had made the wrong choice by not supporting Rory. She walked over to the door. She raised her hand and then she slowly knocked.
Rory was in the middle of an important conversation with the linen company that was supplying all of the table clothes and napkins for her event when she opened the door. She was in the middle of telling them that she needed to up her order when she saw her mother standing there looking fragile and broken. She didn't know what to say or do. She just stood there staring at her mother. Finally she hugged her mother and told the person that she would have to call them back in a few minutes. "I missed you."
"I'm sorry kiddo. I'm so sorry."
I don't even know where this update came from. It seems as though I'm on a roll with this story. It makes sense because I struggled with updates for so long. Sadly I feel as though the end is coming soon. Maybe three or four more chapters at the most. Still I love your reviews. I can't wait to read the ones for this chapter. Thanks for reading.