Chapter Four

"Aurora Dugrey?"

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"Here what goes again?" asks Rory angrily.

"I guess trying to be friends is out of the question?" Logan fires back at her.

"I guess so," snaps Rory.

"You know, I have no idea why you are so upset that I knew Tristan in high school. Especially since I never hid that fact from you. You never asked!"

"How was I supposed to know that I should have?"

"How was I?"

"Because you're Rory Gilmore! You know everything!"

"Although you, on the other hand, hid the fact that you knew him until a few seconds ago!"

"Tristan and I are old friends! We grew up together!"

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"So buddy, who are you going to ask to Chilton's annual prom? Savannah? Monica? Candy? I hear she's easy dude. Go for it. She and Tim are on the outs," Nathan's best friend, Adam said.

"I don't know," Nathan replied. "I was thinking of asking Avery."

Adam looked genuinely confused. "Why? You're Nathan Dugrey. Some of the teachers would go with you, that's how popular you are."

Nathan answers smugly, "Obviously. I'm Nathan Dugrey."

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"Don'tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don'tcha wish your girlfriend was a freak, like me? Don'tcha?" Blair and Arabella sing at the top of their lungs, hair blowing in their faces because the top on their convertible is down. They don't notice that the car seat in the back is empty.

They were searching through the prom dresses rack at Barney's when Arabella's phone rings.

"Hello? Oh, hey dad, what's up? Aurora? Oh, right. Yeah, let me check, just a second," she says just before she presses the cell phone to her chest.

"Hey, Blair, where's Aurora?"

"Don't you have her?"

"No…I thought you did…"

"She's your responsibility Blair! You're older!"

"By, like, two minutes!"

"How could you let this happen?"

"How could I let this happen? How is this my fault, exactly?"

"Girls!" Tristan's angry shout is muffled by the fact that the mouthpiece of Arabella's phone is pressed to her chest, although they can hear him nonetheless.

By now, customers were staring at the twins.

"Sorry…" they glance around shamefacedly. They were only met with glares of hurried shoppers.

"Arabella! Blair! She is your sister. You better find her before I get my hands on you because it won't be pretty. Then you both are grounded! For two months! No buts…I don't want to hear it." Then Tristan hangs up on them.

"Shit," they say as they look at each other. Then they race out of the store and into their convertible.

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"What kind of ice cream would you like Aurora?"

"Green tea," Aurora answers.

"Okay. I'll have two scoops of each of the following: green tea, the old-standby chocolate, and toffee," Lorelai says matter-of-factly to the kindly woman behind the ice cream counter.

As they are handed their ice cream Aurora asks Avery, "Where are my sisters?"

Avery sympathizes, "I don't know sweetie. But we'll bring you home."

Aurora smiles, "You're my bestest best friend. Better than Emma Elizabeth because she doesn't give me ice cream when I'm over. All we can eat are carrot sticks. She says her mommy wants her on a diet." Aurora looks studious for a moment, and then asks, "What's a diet?"

Lorelai laughs, "It's something you shouldn't have to worry about."

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"Hehe…Daddy lost…I won…."

"Yep, you won…again….Are you cheating?"

"No!" Aiden looks shocked.

"Lets play again!" Logan jr. shouts. "I'll beat daddy!"

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Just as Tristan gets off the phone with the spa who was less than helpful, his doorbell rings.