The trip home was silent. It was as though the car had a spell around it, muting everything. Their reasons were probably very, very different. Dean kept on sending smiles her way, hopeful puppy-dog smiles. Rory tried, desperately, to smile back. It wasn't working.
"Rory, are you okay?" he asked her finally, breaking the repressive silence that had fallen over the car.
"Yeah! Fine, totally… I'm fine," she told him, nodding and twisting her hands in her lap.
But the second that she turned away from him, her thoughts wandered back to Jess. Her skin squirmed with the memory of his hands on her and her lips burned. She closed her eyes and curled her body into herself, wrapping her arms around her knees as she lifted them onto the seats.
"So… why was there a bus at the school?" Dean asked, continuing to attempt to keep some sort of conversation going. Said comment shattered her memories and she looked over at him through her hair.
"There was a fieldtrip, to New York," she told him, careful of how much she actually said.
"What class?" he asked, desperately attempting to keep the conversation alive.
"English," she answered, curling a little bit more into herself.
"What did you see?" he continued.
"Uh… well," she attempted desperately to remember, but the title of the musical was completely foreign to her mental state at the moment.
"That memorable?" he asked her, laughing a little bit. "What was it about?"
"Yeah… I don't remember," she told him, guilty about leaving during intermission, but not about leaving with Jess.
"How could you not remember?" he asked her, turning to face her in the car, his eyes flickering from her to the road.
"I-I don't know, I just… don't," she told him, mumbling a little bit and attempting to avoid further discussion of the topic. "Well… where were you yesterday?"
"Yesterday?" he asked her, thankfully not asking more about the musical.
"Yeah, I went to see you… at Doose's," she told him, smiling in an attempt to keep his mind on the topic.
"I wasn't working," he told her with a shrug.
"Yeah…" Rory said, letting the conversation trail off and turning her thoughts back to Jess and the road.
Dean decided to allow the conversation to go dead. She was grateful to him. It allowed her to figure out her feelings. Her fingers twisted around themselves, weaving in an attempt to get rid of the nervous feeling, butterflies so to speak. After what felt like seconds, they were at her house.
"Uh, Rory?" Dean asked, poking her shoulder to snap her out of her little dream-world involving Jess… and arms, and lips and-
"Huh, yeah?" she asked, blinking and turning to face him. She let her legs down and noticed that she was home.
"You sure you're okay?" he asked her, concern in his voice.
"Yeah, okay, fine, thanks," Rory told him, opening the door and running towards the house. She heard Dean get out of the car and she stopped, suddenly realizing that she'd completely ditched her new-old-boyfriend. She turned around, dropping her bag and running back to him. She kissed him firmly on the lips, having to force herself to do it.
"Rory… can I come in?" he asked her, motioning at the house.
"Uh… can I tell my mom first?" she asked, making up an excuse.
"Oh, yeah, do you want me to wait here while you give her the news?" he asked her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
"D-Dean, can you come tomorrow? M-maybe for dinner?" she stammered, desperately attempting to make any excuse to get him not to follow her.
"I guess…" he said, sounding hurt.
Rory lifted herself up on her toes and kissed him softly. "Thanks, I'm sorry, see you tomorrow, bye!" she chirped, before turning around, picking up her backpack and running inside the house.
"Mom!" she shouted, but no one answered her. She ran around the house, wanting to tell someone about Jess, before she realized that now she was with Dean… and Jess probably wasn't going to be an acceptable since it would be considered cheating. Considering how much her mother liked Dean… she wouldn't like it. Sighing, she scanned her mind for someone to tell about it. Knocking off her mother that meant that there was only one person to tell. She snatched the phone, ran into her room, and dialed Lane's number.
"Hello?" Mrs. Kim answered, her voice snapping as always.
"It's Rory, Mrs. Kim, can I talk to Lane, please?" she asked, and heard a sharp reply before the phone was tossed to Lane.
"Rory?" she asked, her voice was excited.
"Lane, can you meet me in the gazebo?" Rory asked, her own was excitement barely contained.
"What's up?" Lane demanded.
"Just, meet me there," Rory told her. "Bye!" She hung up and threw the phone down on her bed, then changed into different clothes. For some reason, with Jess in mind, she snuck upstairs and changed into some of her mother's clothes. This included a short skirt and a halter top. She ran a hand down her side in the full-length mirror, incredibly self-conscious.
"He's not here, Rory… you're never going to see him again," she told herself, which didn't explain why she nearly jumped out of her skin as the phone rang. The damn butterflies told her that it was him.
As she stumbled the last few steps, she got to the receiver and clicked the
'talk' button at the last ring. "H-hello?" she asked.
"Rory?" asked the voice that was most definitely Jess's.
"Hey, uh… how are you doing?" she asked him, nervous already.
"I'm fine," he said, and she could almost see the smirk on his face.
"Good, that's good," she stated, attempting to figure out words that wouldn't make her feel like an idiot.
"What about you? Was the bus alright?" he asked her, contributing a question to the conversation.
"I'm fine and the bus ride was fine too," she said, shifting a little bit.
"Beautiful," he said, and there was suddenly a silence that she could almost feel again that should have been filled with a little bit more… wait, was thinking about kissing him cheating?
"Hey, how about you come out here this weekend?" he asked, breaking the silence for once.
"I-I can't," she told him, pressing a hand to her forehead as she thought about her situation.
"Why not?" he asked, his voice held just the slightest bit of hurt.
"Look… Jess, I, well, my ex-boyfriend, the one I was telling you about… he's back, and we're back, and I-," she stammered, before cutting herself off.
"So you have a boyfriend?" he asked, and this time his voice definitely held hostility.
"Yes, I'll come," she told him, not knowing why the hell she just said that.
"What, and cheat on your boyfriend? I wouldn't hear of it," he scoffed, and she could tell he was about to slam the phone down.
"Wait, Jess, I'll meet you and I'll explain things to you… and I'll tell you what's going on," she pleaded, wanting to see him, and for him not to hang up.
"Yeah, whatever," he said, brushing off the comment.
"Jess, please. It means nothing, he means nothing to me," she told him, shocked that the words were true. Her body almost seemed to rebel, freezing her in place.
"Then why the hell are you with him?" Jess asked. His voice still harsh, almost abrasive against her skin.
"I don't know… I-I don't know. Just, please, meet me, uh…" she trailed off, attempting to think of a place.
"Washington State Park… I'll meet you there. And Rory?" he asked, the anger in his voice seeming to be gone.
"Yeah?" she asked, the strange cold feeling dissipating with the idea of seeing him. Instead the butterflies returned.
"I-I, I'll see you Saturday," he told her, and she was so filled with warmth that she almost forgot that she had no idea what time.
"Wait, when?" she asked him, hoping to get the question out before he hung up.
"Whenever," he told her.
"Alright… I'll be there around eight, okay?" she asked him.
"Eight? Don't tell me you're a morning person," he asked, heavy sarcasm laced into his voice.
"There's nothing wrong with being a morning person," she objected in mock-defense.
"Alright, but if I'm not there, you know where to find me," he told her, obviously talking about his apartment.
"But I don't know your apartment number… or your last name," she said as an afterthought.
"My name's Mariano and my apartment's 1502," he told her, the sound of an almost-laugh on his lips.
"Right, Gilmore," she said, happy that she'd gotten that information out of him.
"Gilmore?" he asked in confusion.
"My last name, it's my last name. Rory Gilmore," she informed him.
"Oh, right," he said, the confusion abated.
"Good, I'll see you… wait, tomorrow is Saturday isn't it?" she asked, her eyes widening with that realization.
"Yeah," he said with more amusement on his voice.
"Right, then I'll see you tomorrow," she said, nodding on her end of the line, even though he couldn't see it.
"Okay, I have to go, this is long distance… I'm on a payphone, and I've run out of change," he told her.
"Right, okay, sure, tomorrow. Bye!" she said, trying to keep herself calm.
"Bye, Rory," he said, although he didn't really want to hang up, he was raiding his pockets, but there weren't anymore coins.
"Bye, Jess," she said, and there was a moments hesitation where she almost said something else, but the phone went dead, he'd run out of time. Slowly, she pressed the 'talk' button again, ending the conversation.
Looking at the phone for a few seconds, she almost felt like calling him back, but she couldn't. While staring at the phone, it occurred to her that she'd asked Lane to meet her at the gazebo, almost half an hour ago.
Letting out a small sound of shock, she scrambled off her bed; put on a pair of threatening looking boots, which were her mother's, and then ran out of the house.
It took her all of ten minutes to get there, where Lane was waiting. She stood up when Rory darted up the stairs. The Korean girl had a look of anger for a moment, before noticing her friend's large, large smile… and strange attire.
"Alright, spill," Lane demanded.
"Today was my field trip, to New York," Rory told her.
"Right! To that… musical," Lane said, like the word was distasteful. It wasn't rock and roll… unless it was Rent, which Lane was able to tolerate.
"Yeah, but when I was there, another school was too. Paris stole the last group-ticket and I had to sit by the other school… and there was a boy, and he… well," Rory stammered at the end, afraid of what people would think about her if she told them that she'd cut a school field trip to go with a boy.
"A boy!? You met a boy in New York? Alright, details!" Lane asked, excited that Rory was finally getting over Dean.
"His name is Jess, he's… dark and he reads and he's smart," Rory declared, wringing her hands a little bit.
"Jess? Jess what? What happened!" Lane asked, grabbing Rory's hands and squeezing them in encouragement.
"Jess Mariano, and we, well… we left during intermission and he showed me around, and I saw his apartment, and he took me to the roof," she admitted guiltily.
"Oh, my God! Rory skipped school!" Lane squealed.
"No! I didn't, just… the musical," Rory protested.
"You skipped school!" Lane screeched.
Rory laughed and shushed her friend, squeezing her hands a little bit more and looking around to make sure that no one was in hearing distance.
"Yes, okay, okay, I skipped school, and… well, I kissed him," she said, looking at her friend with doe-eyes.
"You kissed him!?" Lane screeched again, and Rory had to make her 'shh' louder to calm her down.
"Yeah, we kissed and... it was amazing, and I'm going to see him tomorrow," Rory told her.
"Does your mom know?" Lane demanded.
"No, I haven't seen her… but Lane, I can't tell her," Rory said, earnestly squeezing her hands again.
"Why not?" Lane asked, confused.
Thanks to both of their constant chatter, no one noticed Dean coming up behind them. He was dressed in his apron, obviously having just gotten off work.
"Hello, Lane," he greeted, shocking the two girls apart. Rory looked between Lane to Dean, concern and panic in her eyes, before she gave Dean a blinding smile and kissed him.
"Hey, uh… I was just telling Lane that we got back together!" Rory lied through her teeth, and looked past Dean to see Lane looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
"Oh, my… God!" Lane screamed, looking at Rory like she'd grown another head.
"Lane!" Rory hissed in warning, begging her not to say anything.
"Dean, I have to… come on," Lane demanded, grabbing Rory's sleeve and dragging her away from her new 'boyfriend'.
"I'll see you later!" Rory yelled at Dean as she was carted away.
"Tomorrow, dinner?" Dean asked, reminding her.
"Tomorrow?" Rory repeated, feeling that cold feeling run through her body again.
When they were out of Dean's earshot, in the alley behind Luke's to be exact, Lane grabbed Rory's hands again and turned her so they were facing each other.
"You're back with Dean?" Lane asked, confusion again I her voice.
"Yeah," Rory said, guilt riding the word.
"But what about Jess?" Lane asked, her voice holding deep concern.
"I don't know," Rory said, her voice rising and she threw her arms up, pushing away from Lane.
"Does he know?" Lane asked.
"Huh?" Rory replied, it was now her turn to be confused.
"Does Dean know… about Jess? Wait, you're going to see Jess tomorrow, aren't you? Does Jess know about Dean?" Lane asked at three billion words a second.
"No, yes… and yes," Rory answered, sounding more and more miserable with each word.
"So what are you going to do?" Lane asked, desperately in love with Rory's drama.
"You have to help me! I have to see Jess tomorrow, because I can't call him… but I can't tell Dean that I can't be there either… help!" Rory demanded.
"Alright, alright, oh my God!" Lane shrieked again, dancing around in a circle. "You have a love triangle!"
"I-I don't want it… I just want-," she cut herself off, suddenly realizing that what she wanted was very vivid in her mind.
"What!?" Lane demanded.
"I… want… this to be over," Rory said, lying through her teeth for the second time that night.
"But what are you going to do?!" Lane asked, still thriving in the moment.
"I don't know… I'm going to see Jess tomorrow," Rory said, very firm in that commitment.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Lane said, finally calming down a little bit.
"Umm… maybe you can say I'm at your house for a few hours?" Rory suggested going back to wringing her hands again.
"I'm going out tomorrow… wait! Perfect! You can say you're coming out with momma and I to the prayer rally!" Lane suggested.
"But my mom would never believe that," Rory said, frowning.
"But it's in Hartford… in the mall! We could say that you're doing it for the shopping!" Lane further pressed.
"Okay… okay, that's good! What about Dean?" Rory said, her enthusiasm in the first comment fading with the second.
"I don't know the rally lasts until nine…" Lane told her, shrugging a little bit.
"We could say I got sick?" Rory suggested, knowing how weak it sounded.
"No, then I would have to be home too… I don't know," Lane said helplessly, flapping her arms a little bit in desperation.
"I've got it!" Rory finally said, turning to face Lane and stopping her pacing. "We'll tell him that… I forgot about the prayer rally because I was so excited… and that we've been planning this for weeks… and that your mom will bury me in the back yard if I don't go!"
"Yes!" Lane exclaimed, hugging her friend close.
"I have to go see Dean! I'll talk to you later!" Rory said, dashing out of the alley and making a beeline for Doose's Market.
"Good luck!" Lane called, before dashing back to her house, excitement flowing from her every movement.
Rory watched Lane enter into her house, hesitating at the door to the Market. When she finally gained up enough strength, she pushed it open and looked for Dean. It wasn't hard to find him, as he was the tallest thing in the store.
"Dean, hi," Rory said, walking up to him awkwardly.
"Hey Rory!" Dean greeted enthusiastically. "You and Lane finished your talk?"
"Yeah… she reminded me about the rally tomorrow, I promised I'd go," Rory told him, hoping that her eyes were conveying regret.
"Oh… so dinner's off then?" Dean said, hurt in his voice.
"I'm sorry, I totally forgot… I was just so excited, y'know, with the 'us getting back together'? I guess… what about Sunday?" she suggested meekly, not wanting to make him upset.
"Sunday, sure, that's cool," Dean said, obviously attempting to lighten his tone for her.
"Great!" Rory exclaimed, leaning up and kissing him again. "I'll see you then!"
"Yeah… sure," Dean responded as she turned around and darted out of the store, as though something very large and scary was chasing her.
When she got outside, she let out a huge breath and started home. With any luck, her mother would be home and she'd be able to get out the same lie in ten minutes, so that she wouldn't have to attempt to convince herself out of what she was doing. The trip home was very, very short, and she was at her door in minutes. Fortunately, the jeep was parked out front. She bounced up the steps and into the house.
"Mom! I'm home!" Rory shouted, and was quite pleased to hear an answering call from the kitchen.
"Hey sweetie!" Lorelei called, standing up with her cup of coffee and moving over to where her daughter was.
"How was work?" Rory asked, trying not to be too obvious in her panic about tomorrow.
"It was good, Michel scared off some tourists and Sookie burnt part of her uniform and-," she stopped short, noticing the darting eyes and the strange gestures of her daughter, the darting eyes and the hands… not to mention the clothes. "Are you okay?"
"What? Me, yes fine, totally okay!" Rory stated, nodding her head and stopping her hands by holding them behind her back. "I was just going to tell you that… I'm going to a prayer rally with Lane tomorrow!"
"Prayer rally… tomorrow?" Lorelei asked, sensing that there was something fishy about this.
"Yeah! It's in Hartford, at the mall! I thought I'd go and take the breaks to shop a little bit," Rory told her enthusiastically. "Lane wanted me to help her pick out some clothes."
"Umm, well, I guess that's alright," her mother said, nodding a little bit, but still sensing something fishy. "When does it start?"
"Oh, eight! At eight in the morning!" Rory told her, not even considering the time.
"Are you going to be able to function?" Lorelei asked, attempting to crack a joke, but her daughter didn't even seem to notice. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yup! Totally fine!" Rory squeaked, her hands now wringing a little behind her back.
"Okay… when does it end?" Lorelei asked, attempting to ask the important questions.
"Nine," Rory stated firmly.
"Fourteen hours? You're going to endure fourteen hours of… that?" Lorelei asked, her suspicions up to an all-time high.
"Well, it'll be with Lane, and she really wanted me to go… so that she wouldn't be alone!" Rory said, her adrenaline calming down a little bit and exhaustion falling into its place.
"Okay, how about we go to Luke's before we head off to dinner?" Lorelei asked, trying to get her daughter to calm down. Why was she so nervous about a prayer rally? Was she going to meet someone?
"Sure!" Rory confirmed; glad to be out of the lying-situation.
"Okay… and what are you wearing?" Lorelei asked, deciding to address the attire that her, normally prudent, daughter had on.
"Oh, nothing… it was nothing, just… I don't know, I felt like being fancy… for Dean," Rory said, adding in the last bit as a prayer that it would explain some things.
"Dean? Wait, you mean that you two are…?" Lorelei asked, excitement rising in her voice. Maybe that was why she was so nervous?
"Yeah! He came to school, to pick me up!" Rory told her, glad that she wouldn't have to lie about that.
"Oh, sweetie that's awesome… but I wanted to tell you that… Max proposed to me," Lorelei said, springing the fact on her and hoping that it was the right time.
"He what?!" Rory asked, pushing the tomorrow-issue to the back burner and focusing on her mother's announcement.
"Yeah! But… I don't know how to answer him," she said, now wringing her hands around 'her' coffee cup. "Why don't you go change, we'll go to Luke's, and we can talk about it on the way to dinner?"
"Change?" Rory asked, not registering that she was still in Jess-mode.
"Unless… you want to go see grandma like that?" Lorelei asked, frowning in confusion again at the attire.
"Right!" Rory nodded, turning and darting into her room.
"There's nothing I should know about, right?" Lorelei asked through her daughter's door.
"No… everything's okay!" Rory called back, stripping out of her clothes and putting on a Polo and a pair of jeans.
"Okay… but you could know you can tell me, right?" asked the eldest Gilmore, leaning against the wall beside the door.
"Yeah, of course! You're my best friend," Rory said as she opened the door and stepped out, smiling at her mother. "Okay! Let's go!"
"Alright," Lorelei said, but there was obviously something wrong. She placed her coffee into the sink and they both walked out to the car. What probably should have been a happy moment, Dean and Rory getting back together, and Lorelei and Max possibly getting married, was marred by both of them; Rory with Jess and Lorelei with her indecision about marriage, especially when the man in question wasn't Christopher.
The trip to Luke's was silent, as though they had both suddenly lost their ability to talk. Rory was deeply in thought about tomorrow, how to get there, what would be the best way to get to Washington State Park, and Lorelei was busy attempting to figure out what was wrong with her daughter.
When they arrived at Luke's Lorelei stopped the jeep and got out of the car, only to realize that Rory didn't appear to have noticed at all. She frowned and walked over to the passenger's side, opened the door, and waved a hand in front of Rory's face.
"You hoo!" she said, snapping Rory out of her daze.
"What? We're here, right! Sorry," Rory apologized and hopped out of the car. She quickly made her way up the steps and into the diner.
Lorelei followed slower, calculating everything and wondering if there was something going on tomorrow with Dean. She'd have to watch to make sure. Going at a snail's pace, she opened the door and walked into the diner, sitting with Rory at the table almost directly in front of the door. Luke was standing behind the counter, scribbling on something. He looked up from his scribbling to see the two of them and started over with two cups and coffee.
"What a surprise, don't you have your dinner tonight?" Luke asked the two silent women. It was shocking to see them so quiet, normally they never shut up.
"Huh, oh, yeah! We're just… stopping for coffee!" Rory told him when her mother didn't answer.
"Uh huh," Luke said, looking between the two of them. Deciding that it was more trouble than it was worth, he poured their coffee and walked back to the counter.
"So, Rory… how long have you known about the prayer rally?" Lorelei asked, wondering if this had been a long-time plan, or something just out of the blue… an excuse, perhaps.
"Lane just asked me today!" Rory told her, giving her mother a small smile and a quick look, before taking a sip of her coffee and checking the time. "When did Max…?"
"Just a few hours ago… he sent me flowers," Lorelei told her, a small smile of her own on her lips.
"Aww! That's so sweet!" Rory said, again glad that the spotlight wasn't directed at her. "We have to be at Grandma's in a few minutes… we should probably go."
"But I haven't finished my coffee!" her mother whined, attempting to lighten up the situation again.
"But we're going to be late!" Rory snapped, and then looked shocked. She was surprised by the anger that she held in her tone.
"Oh… well, okay, I guess we could go," Lorelei said, hurt by the anger. She stood up, tossing a few bills onto the table, and walked out of the diner.
"Are you two okay?" Luke asked from the counter, frowning at Rory's outburst. He'd managed to tune them out, but he definitely wasn't used to the young girl shouting like that.
"Yeah, we're fine," Rory muttered, giving Luke an apologetic glance and racing after her mother.
The trip to the Gilmore Mansion was silent, as was the dinner… and then again on the way back. Neither girl attempted to create any sort of conversation, even when Emily demanded it. In the end, as they arrived home, they both went their separate ways, without even a 'goodnight'.
Rory drifted into her room, confused at her actions and not sure why she was doing what she was doing. Would it really be so bad for her mother to know about Jess? But her mind could instantly tell her, without a shadow of a doubt, that yes, it would be bad. Sighing, she sat down on the bed, slumping over a little bit.
Just as she was about to relax and change for bed, the phone rang. It was still in her room, so she managed to get it on the first ring.
"H-hello?" she asked, her stomach doing the butterfly thing again.
"Hey," Jess answered, and the butterflies increased their rhythm.
"Oh, hi! I was just getting ready for bed," she told him, happy to hear his voice for the third time that day.
"Turning in a bit early, aren't you?" he asked, a small laugh on the tail end of the words.
"Not if I have to catch a bus tomorrow at six," she pointed out sarcastically, and decided to get ready for bed anyway.
"Right… six, why are you coming so early again?" Jess asked her, his voice pleasant and conversational. It was nice to see that his wall wasn't up anymore.
"I don't know… I just wanted to have… time, so we could, do… things," Rory said, tripping over her words and trying to find other words to fill in the spaces.
"That's cool, how long are you staying tomorrow?" he asked.
"Umm, till about eight," she told him, making sure to keep track of the times in her head. If it wasn't so late, she'd attempt to call Lane to make a better plan… theirs had a 'lot' of holes.
"Wow, a lot of time," Jess said, his voice holding a bit of surprise. "What do you think we'll be doing?"
"I don't know, you're the New York expert, I thought that I'd leave it up to you," she said, smiling against the phone as she slipped her shirt off and put her PJ shirt on.
"Did you have anything in mind?" he asked her, obviously fishing for ideas.
"Well… I like books," she told him, although it should have been a give-in.
"Yeah, of course… books. Alright, I think I have an idea," he said, and she could see the smile on his face. It was easy to talk to him on the phone, she decided.
"What is it?" she asked him, curious as to his plans for the next day.
"Oh, you'll find out," he said cryptically.
"Tell me!" Rory demanded, deciding that she wanted to know what to wear.
"You'll find out tomorrow, just wear comfortable shoes," he told her, and then there was a shuffling on the line. "Hey look, I have to go, I've run out of change again, but I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah… tomorrow, see you then!" she said, eager for the trip. "Bye, Jess."
"Bye Rory," he said, and the line went dead.
Rory sat, fully PJ-ed up, and thought about the next day. Once again, she was about to relax, when there was a knock at her door.
"Yeah! Come in!" Rory said, shuffling on her bed and getting underneath the covers.
"Hey, I just wanted to ask… are you really going to a rally tomorrow?" Lorelei asked, her voice almost flinching with the idea of her daughter lying to her.
"Yes, mom, I'm going to a prayer rally tomorrow… with Lane, you can call her and ask," Rory said with a shrug, offering the phone.
"Okay… I believe you. G'night, Rory," Lorelei said, shuffling a little bit in indecision before leaving.
Rory sat on her bed and watched the door as her mother left. With a sigh, she thought about what was going on in her life with Jess, and decided that it wasn't going to work. She was going to have to choose one or the other. Tomorrow… she'd choose tomorrow. Sighing further, she roughly threw her blanket off and swung her legs over the bed. Before she knew what she was doing, she found herself dressed and out of her window.
A quick look up to her mother's room showed someone moving around and then getting into bed, and turning the light off. Preparing herself, she took in a deep breath before dashing off into the night.
Ten minutes later, she was sitting outside of Lane's house, carefully whispering her best friend's name as loudly as she could, trying not to wake up Mrs. Kim. It only took a few seconds before Lane stumbled to her window.
"Rory?" she asked, pushing up the windowsill.
"Lane! I need your help!" Rory said, hiding behind a tree and looking up, trying not to talk at normal level.
"What? What's going on?" Lane asked, leaning out her window for a better hearing range.
"I told mom that the thing is fourteen hours long… when are you guys going?" Rory asked, addressing the worst problem in their little ploy.
"Fourteen hours long? Are you insane?! We're not leaving until five!" Lane half-shouted.
"Then you have to avoid my mom!" Rory said, whispering urgently.
"Are you okay?" Lane asked, and Rory could recognize the frown that everyone had been giving her today.
"Do you think we can actually do this?" Rory asked, doubting her plan.
"Go to sleep, Rory, I'll talk to you tomorrow. I want details!" Lane shouted, at normal voice level, before slamming the window shut and crawling back into her bed, just before Mrs. Kim came in to shout at the 'sleeping' girl in the bed.
Rory hesitated for a second. She needed to rant about this, but turned around and headed back to her house instead. A quick glance at her watch told her that she would only get about five hours of sleep. She needed those five hours before seeing Jess, or she was going to have a panic attack.
Shoving her hands in her jacket pockets, she made her way home slowly. Her window was still open and it allowed her to sneak inside. Her mother's window was still dark; she took that as a good sign. Crawling beneath her covers, she thought about changing, and then decided that she didn't want to. She was too tired to change, too scared, and too panicked.
After another hour, she finally felt her body relaxing out of desperation rather than actual wanting to sleep. Her eyes finally fluttered to sleep, but the only thing she could think about was Jess… and how she was going to deal with him tomorrow.