Timing

A/N: Here's chapter three of The Color of Coffee, hope you enjoy. Even if you don't enjoy, please leave a review. It really helps me keep writing when I know that people like what I write. Seriously, it's a proven fact.

Disclaimer: Yes, that's right, I own Gilmore Girls. Now, if you'll excuse me, The Genie tells me I have two wishes remaining...

I must have fallen asleep on the couch, because when I woke up it was four am. As you probably already know, I am not a morning person, but since I had gotten at least fifteen hours of sleep already I knew that it was pretty much pointless to assume I would get any more.

I got up off the couch and headed into the kitchen, listening for a sign that my mother was home. The house was silent, so I figured my mother had stayed the night at the inn. I freshened the coffee in the pot and downed the lot of it. I figured I might as well get some studying done, because I had over four hours before I needed to catch my bus. Timing really sucked lately.

Oh crap! Timing! Lane!

I ran to the telephone table and skidded, thanks to my slippers. I pressed the message button and waited. I weeded through the ones from Grandma complaining about something or other and wrote down a few that I thought my mom might need. The machine beeped and the messages stopped. Huh. Lane hadn't called.

That was strange. Lane always called when she (or her mother) said she would. Mostly because it was the polite thing to do, but also because when you were alone in a house with Mrs. Kim for the amount of time each day that Lane was, you needed to keep constant contact to the outside world to keep from going crazy.

The worse possible scenarios flashed through my head. Their house had burned down and Lane hadn't made it; those lactose-free wheat-free cookies had given them a horrible virus from which they immediately perished; Mrs. Kim had actually sent Lane to live in a convent, something she had been threatening to do since Lane and I were eight.

I was starting to hyperventilate and could feel tears pricking the backs of my eyes as I imagined poor helpless Lane, alone on a bus to Bible Camp for the rest of her life.

Realizing that I was about to have a meltdown for no apparent reason – Lane had probably just forgotten – I went into my bedroom and lay down on my bed. Without setting my alarm clock, which was really stupid. See, I thought that since I wasn't tired at all I wouldn't go back to sleep. Boy, was I wrong.

When I woke up six hours later it was to a silent house. I looked at the clock on my bedside table (a hand-me-down from Lorelai: It was pink and furry and made a strange bubbling noise when the alarm went off) and realized with a sick feeling that it was ten o'clock and I had not only missed my bus but my first two classes.

I jumped out of bed and looked down at myself, remembering that I was wearing the same outfit I had been wearing yesterday, as I had fallen asleep with my clothes on twice.

After quickly changing into a t-shirt and fresh jeans, padded barefoot into the kitchen. My mother was asleep in her chair, with her head on the table. Her right hand, of course, held an ever-present coffee mug. I groaned and walked up behind her. I placed my hand on her shoulder and shook her gently.

"Mom! Wake up! We're so late! You have to get up!"

"Uhhhhrrrrgggg……"

"Mom!" She obviously wasn't waking, so I gritted my teeth and reached for her coffee mug, which was sort of like provoking a hibernating bear.

"Don't touch my coffee, you fiend!" my mother shouted, lifting her head off of the table and looking at me like she was a shark and I was a minnow. I shrank back slightly,

"Sorry, mom," I started nervously. Her coffee had been threatened and there was no telling what she would do. "But you need to get up. I'm late for school and you're late for work!"

She snapped out of shark mode and went back into Lorelai mode.

"Really? Oh well."

"Oh well?" I said incredulously. "Didn't you hear me? We're late! L-A-T-E! La – "

But she cut me off.

"Rory, honey, love of my life, fruit of my loins (I wrinkled my nose), do you have any tests today?"

"Well no, but – "

"Then fear not, offspring! I have the day off of work! We can play hooky! Well, you can play hooky, because I have no where to play hooky from today. But I will be with you during the hooky playing, so technically I would be – "

Here she petered off, her head slowly drooping back to the table.

"Mom, stay with me" I said, groaning when she began snoring lightly. I tapped her. Nothing.

Sighing, I grabbed her head and forced it up, at the same time putting the coffee mug to her lips and tilting it slightly. It was like magic, the second the first drop of coffee touched her tongue she lifted her hand and grabbed the cup, draining it. Her eyes opened.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't get home till really late last night. There was so much to do at the inn. Now do mommy a favor and make some more coffee. I need some to last me at least until we get to Luke's for the real stuff."

I hurriedly made more coffee, before she had the chance to drift off again.

"Thanks, hon," she said after she had drank about half of the pot. "Lets get to Luke's. And then we can figure out what to do for the rest of the day."

The walk to Luke's was pretty much silent. My mother has built up quite a tolerance to coffee, so she needed it in an IV to stay awake. The pot and a half she had chugged this morning barely even began to cover her exhaustion.

A beep from my pager broke the silence. I stopped and pulled it out of my pocket. It was from Lane. It read:

"Grounded. Burnt cookies. Broke vase. Call tomorrow."

Poor Lane. At least she hadn't been sent to Korea on a one-way ticket, one of the other horrible scenarios I had imagined this morning.

When we got to Luke's, I noticed that the place was packed.

"What do you think?" My mother asked. "Should we counter it?"

"Oohh, yes!" I replied excitedly. "Then we can finally play bagel hockey!"

"Ah, bagel hockey," my mother began with a far away look on her face. "A sport that has been fantasized about many times, yet never played."

We took our seats at the counter and waited for Luke to appear. And waited. And waited.

"Oh Lukey!" my mother hollered, getting impatient. When there was no answer she grabbed a donut from the container and headed in the direction of the stairs.

"I'll be right back," she said to me. "I'm just gonna go make sure the toilet plunger hasn't tried to eat him again. He'll thank me one day. I swear, the level of service in this place! And there isn't even fresh coffee! I think I should file a complaint."

She wasn't paying attention and nearly bumped into Jess, who was on his way downstairs. He looked at her strangely, so she widened her blue eyes at him and pointed to me, and then the empty coffee pot.

"Make some coffee, and then caffeinate my daughter."

He turned to look at me, so I widened my eyes the same way as my mother.

"Ah, jeez," said Jess. "Put those away. They're dangerous."

My mother grinned and went upstairs. I merely pouted some more, experimenting with my level of control over every male in the diner.

When I was satisfied that I was adorable, I turned back to Jess, who was pouring coffee into the mug in front of me.

"Thanks," I said.

"Whatever."

I was thrown off guard by Jess' response. He was usually nice to me, or at least tolerated my presence. Now he was acting like I was just some random townsperson that annoyed him.

I pondered over this, wondering what I had done, when the bell on the door jingled and a blur of blond and boobs brushed passed me and went straight for Jess, who was now leaning against the counter reading.

"Hey," said the girl, who I recognized as Shane from Stars Hollow High.

"Hey," said Jess, before he pulled her into a lip lock worthy of a porno.

I just stared in shock, trying to ignore the fact that my stomach was convulsing with revulsion and – jealousy? A new thought dawned on me; Maybe I hadn't done anything to make Jess mad. Maybe that was the way it had always been, and I had been fooling myself into thinking I mattered to him.

But when he looked up, I quickly banished this thought. His eyes met mine. They were filled with sadness, and was that regret? It was almost like he was trying to apologize.

I needed to get out of there. I glanced at the stairs, but there was no telling how long my mom would be up there flirting with Luke. I grabbed my coat from the back of the stool chair and dashed out of the diner.

A/N: If you ever want to see the next chapter, press the pretty little blue button. One of my hit men will call you with the details, such as where to leave the money. No seriously, I write faster when I get feedback.