Part 12: He's Her Support
Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-do
I have a perfect puzzle for you
Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-do
If you are wise, you'll li-
"Hello?" Rory asked lying her head on the pillow again after grabbing her phone off the nightstand.
"Morning, college girl," she heard an accented voice say, causing her to smile.
"Hey you, what are you doing up so early?"
"Shelby wanted us to eat breakfast together before dad went off to work. I snuck off to the kitchen to call you, before my day of shopping started."
"Well, that was sweet of you," Rory said sitting up with a smile and pushing her hair back.
"Shelby is going to New Haven to shop with some friends around one, so I'm dropping her off, and then I'll go to Yale. Do you know your dorm yet?"
"No, but I'll text it to you once I get it."
"All right. She's getting a ride with her friends, so I'm yours all afternoon."
"Oooo," Rory cooed, "Imagine the possibilities."
Finn laughed. "I think you've been hanging around me for too long."
"And I wouldn't have it any other way," she laughed.
"Good, I've got to go. Shelby's probably wondering why I'm taking so long. See you later."
"Definitely," she said with a nod.
"Bye love."
"Bye Finn," Rory said hanging up just as her door burst open .
"Who dare wake you up on the first day of Yale?" Lorelai asked as she came into the room holding two mugs of coffee, handing one to Rory.
"Finn, he wanted to say good morning before he spent it with his sister."
"Well, at least he's got the boyfriend thing down."
"Yes, he does," Rory agreed as she drank the coffee.
"Now, you go get in the shower, get dressed and then we'll finish packing and get on our way to Yale." When she saw Rory nod, but not make a move to get up she started pushing. "Well go, go, go!"
Rory nodded, drinking the last of the coffee and putting it on her nightstand and grabbing her towel. "I'm going, I'm going," she laughed as she ran to the bathroom.
Lorelai smiled as the door closed. Her baby was going to college.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Rory walked out of her room, carrying make up products and glaring at them.
"I've got too much stuff," she muttered as she walked to the living room.
"What?" Her mother called from upstairs.
"Stuff!" Rory said louder as she arranged the things in her make up bag. "And it's your fault! You inculcated into me a tolerance for rampant consumerism!"
"What?!" Lorelai asked, sounding confused.
"When did I become one of those girls with dozens of beauty products, none of which are expendable? It used to be a touch of mascara, dab of Coppertone, zip, bam, boom, out the door," she muttered, zipping up the cosmetics bag.
"I heard copper and boom," Lorelai said from upstairs.
"Never mind!" Rory told her, "And what's going on? We're late!"
"I'm looking for the camera."
"Oh vey, she's looking for the camera," Rory muttered rolling her eyes.
"I heard that!"
"That she hears," she said shaking her head.
"It is my prerogative as your mother to record any event in my daughter's life that I so choose." Lorelai said coming down the stairs." It's in the mother's handbook," she pointed out as she fixed the zoom on the camera.
Rory frowned as they walked towards the kitchen. "Does Luke know you can't drive a stick?"
"I can drive a stick."
"You can stir coffee with a stick, but you can't drive a stick," Rory teased as she went to her room to grab the last bag.
"Okay, I'm am so glad I did not choose to record that particular moment in my daughter's life 'cause that was just ugly," Lorelai said grabbing her purse from the kitchen chair.
"I just want you to get there in one piece," Rory told her.
"You look out for me," Lorelai smiled kissing her cheek.
"Let's hit the road!" Rory said walking back towards the living room, arranging the garbage bag that had her shoes in her arms.
"Oh! wait, wait, wait! This is it! This is the precise moment that I've been looking for! This is my daughter going off to college! This is my shot!"
"Okay, fine," Rory said somewhat surprised by the reaction. Lorelai took the trash bag out of her hands and focused the camera.
"Okay, I'm lining you up, now look candid," she ordered.
"Okay, see, the very definition of candid means that the subject doesn't know the picture's being taken."
"So forget the camera's there," Lorelai said as if talking to a four-year-old.
"I'll try," Rory said placating her mother.
"And smile!"
"Okay, okay," Rory said standing and putting on a small smile on her face. The flash went off, taking the picture. Lorelai pushed the bottoms on the camera to get the picture on the screen and frowned.
"I'm not happy," she said immediately.
"Why?"
"It looks posed," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"All right, how about this?" Rory said standing so her side faced the camera and her hand on her hip, a look of annoyance on her face.
"You know that stick we were talking about before? It looks like it's somewhere else now," Lorelai teased.
"You're having serious Annie Leibovitz delusions here," Rory pointed out.
"But it just looks like you're standing in the house. No one will know you're going to college!"
"Should I hold a sign?" Rory asked annoyed.
"Or you could do the 'going off to college' walk."
"The what?" Rory asked confused.
"The walk. The 'this'," Lorelai told her doing the walk by moving her shoulders one by one forward while her hands went with them.
Rory laughed. "You look like Alfalfa coming to pick up Darla."
"Here, hold some of your stuff," she said picking p the trash bag and handing it back to Rory. "At least it'll look like you're moving or something."
"Okay," Rory said heaving the bag over her shoulder, putting the other hand on her hip.
"Ugh, it looks like you're taking out the trash."
"Okay, that's it, we're going," she told her, putting the bag back down and gathering some of her other stuff.
"All right," Lorelai sighed. "I'll just have to make do with one of the pictures I already took."
"Good." Rory said emitting her more exasperated tone of voice.
"Ooh, I'll put it on the computer and then superimpose an important person standing next to you seeing you off, like Kissinger or Lady Bird Johnson or Pat Summerall or something."
"Pat Summerall?" Rory asked confused.
"You think of somebody better."
"Orson Welles," she said in a 'duh' kind of voice.
"It can't be a dead person."
"Pat Summerall's dead!"
"No, he's not," Lorelai said shaking her head.
"Pat Summerall," Rory told her slowly, "Is dead."
"No, I'm telling you he's not. Lady Bird Johnson is dead."
"No, she's not."
"How much you wanna bet?" Lorelai asked her, knowing for a fact that Lady Bird Johnson was dead.
"Five bucks," Rory told her.
"Let's google him right now!"
"Mom, Yale?" Rory told her pointing towards the door.
"Yeah, Yale can wait for us to google Pat Summerall."
Rory sighed grabbing her arm and dragging her out of the house. "Come on."
"Where are your priorities?" Lorelai teased, knowing she had just won the five bucks.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
After breakfast at Luke's and her mom's inability to drive a stick Rory finally reached the Yale campus. Finding her mom, standing in the only free parking space left, she parallel parked perfectly and got out of the car.
"Nice score!" Rory said walking over to her mom.
"Thank you. Oh, and later I'll, uh, point out the seven or so fellow Yalies who already hate you because your obnoxious mother wouldn't let them park in the only open spot left," Lorelai told her with a smile.
"Oh goody," Rory rolled her eyes. She looked over at Luke's truck that was parked in front of her Prius. "You get the truck here okay?"
Lorelai glared at the truck before turning back to Rory. "We had some bickering, but we made it."
"Right," Rory muttered tucking her hair behind her ears. A girl came up to them, wearing a Yale sweatshirt and smiled.
"Hello. Name?"
"Oh, hey," Lorelai said. "I was told it was okay to hold the spot. A guy told me, I forgot his name. He had, uh, like, a jacket."
"It's okay. I was just wondering what our newcomer's name is."
"Rory Gilmore," Rory answered, shaking her head at her mother's antics.
"Right, Rory Gilmore," Lorelai repeated.
"Rory Gilmore, Rory Gilmore... Oh, there you are. Welcome to Yale," the girl said shaking Rory's hand.
"Oh! Hold the shake, hold the shake!" Lorelai said fumbling with her camera.
"Mom," Rory sighed.
"Wait, lens cap, lens cap," Lorelai said, hurriedly taking off the cap.
"Sorry," she told the girl who just smiled.
"They all do this, don't worry about it."
"Shake," she told them. She took the picture and smiled. "Got it. Who are you?"
"I'm Tess, I'm Rory's freshman counselor. I'll be living in the building and be there for whatever she needs."
"And you look twenty-one, convenient for beer runs," she smirked at Rory who smiled.
"I'll be giving a tour for Durfee girls you should not miss."
"Oh, I know," Rory told her. "Tour's at twelve, followed by the optional express lunch twelve to two, which is all followed by the telecommunications orientation and internet ID distribution, parents' reception eleven to one," Rory recited.
"You memorized the schedule," Tess stated surprised.
"Yeah, she's not weird or anything, she just has a good memory," Lorelai said with a proud tone in her voice.
"And I see you brought your own mattress," Tess said pointing to the mattress lying in the bed of the truck.
"Oh, right," Lorelai said snapping her fingers. "See, the guy... name, name, name. I forgot his name. Three syllables. Uh, he said it was okay, and he had, like, a mustache."
Tess smiled and raised an eyebrow. "It's allowed as long as you make arrangements to dispose of the one that was already there. Did you do that?"
"Yes, we did," Lorelai said immediately.
"Yes," Rory nodded.
"Good. Get your camera ready," Tess told Lorelai.
"Why?" Lorelai asked.
"I'm giving Rory her key," Tess said holding the keys over Rory's palm.
"Thanks for the warning," Lorelai said in relief as she took the picture of Tess and Rory and the keys.
"See you at the tour," Tess told Rory as she started to walk away.
"Yes, Tess, thank you." Rory smiled. She turned to her mom. "So, she's nice."
"Yeah," Lorelai nodded. "I'm dying to see your room. Come on, grab a bag."
Rory started grabbing garbage bags from the bed of the truck and turned to her mother. "So, you made arrangements to get rid of the old mattress?"
"Yes, I did," Lorelai said heaving a bag over he shoulder.
"Really?" Rory asked with a raised eyebrow as they walked towards the room where she would be spending the next year. "Because it specifically says here that you're supposed to make arrangements to have the old mattress picked up before arrival," Rory read off the sheet she had in her hand.
They stepped into the Durfee hall and Lorelai nodded. "Ooh, very grand."
"So, what time are the mattress guys coming?" Rory asked.
"Uh, later today sometime," Lorelai told her as they walked to the door.
"So we have to wait for them, or..."
"I think they just let themselves in. Here we are," Lorelai said stepping in front of the dorm door.
"So do the mattress guys have their own key?"
"All right, I confess," Lorelai sighed dropping the bag. "I didn't call the mattress guys."
Rory smiled triumphantly. "Well, what are we gonna do?"
"We'll find a dumpster," Lorelai shrugged as if it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Mom! They could trace it back to me!"
"I'll be long gone by then," Lorelai teased.
"Mom!" Rory warned.
"All right, we'll burn it before we dump it. A match, a little gasoline."
"We're here five minutes and we're already contemplating felonies," Rory muttered as Lorelai unlocked the dorm room and walked in.
"Just like I pictured it," Lorelai said as she looked at the empty space. To the right were two doors, each one with a Post-it with initials on it, while the one in front of them had two. The common room held an old green couch and a worn coffee table, just like a dorm room should have in Lorelai's opinion.
"Did you see an emergency exit?"
Lorelai turned and her eyes brightened when she saw the fireplace. "A fireplace too! I wonder if it's woodburning."
"It says here, 'Upon arrival, please take note of the emergency exits," Rory said looking down at the booklet in her hands.
"Hey, hey, we could burn the mattress in there, save us a trip,"
Lorelai teased.
"Aw, man, a piece of my map ripped off," Rory muttered with a frown.
"Which one's your room?"
"I'm missing half of the Old Campus."
"R.G. This is it," Lorelai said pointing to the door with two Post-its.
"If I have Old Campus activities today, I'm screwed," Rory said as she absently followed her mother into the room.
"Here it is. Here's where you're going to be thinking all those impressive thoughts. It's just waiting for your decorative stamp. And a little air freshener."
"Where's the phone jack?" Rory asked, looking at the walls.
"I don't know, Jack. Where is the pesky phone?"
"Mom," Rory warned as she looked through the booklet, to see where she could get another map.
"You're one-note Nancy today."
"Ah, here's a place to get replacement maps," Rory read the paragraph and groaned. "Aw, holy cow, it's in the Old Campus!"
"All right, that's it," Lorelai said pushing her out of the room.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"You just missed it," Lorelai said as she pushed Rory out of the common room.
"Missed what?"
"Walking into your dorm suite for the first time. Do over," Lorelai said as they walked back outside and closed the door.
"What? We're short on time here, and we haven't gotten half of my stuff out of the truck," Rory protested.
"It doesn't matter," Lorelai said waving the comment away. "You're gonna be in the moment."
"Mom," Rory sighed.
"You're gonna be in the moment or..." she took the map away from Rory. "The rest of the map gets it."
"No, "Rory surrendered. "Okay, I'm here, I swear."
"You're not placating me?" Lorelai asked.
"I'll try. Really, I'm all here."
"Good," Lorelai nodded happy she'd gotten her way. They turned and looked at her dorm door. "Oh, here's your suite."
"Which reminds me I have to text Finn the number."
"Mention of the boyfriend, now I know you're here." Lorelai said as they opened the door and walked inside.
"Wow," Rory muttered looking around.
"Huh?" Lorelai said with a 'I-told-you-so' tone.
"It is cool. My own space."
"Well, yours and S.M's, P.G's and J.B's," Lorelai pointed out.
"And a fireplace, did you see the fireplace?" Rory pointed out, wondering if it was wood burning or electrical.
"Was this do over justified or what?" Lorelai said as she led Rory into her room.
Rory looked around, noticing the two empty bed frames and the two desks with shelves above them. "You mentioned thoughts in here."
"Mhm, all the great ones you're going to have."
"And an air freshener?" Rory asked looking at the shelves and thinking about the colleges books that would soon be filling them.
"That too."
Rory smiled at her mom and hugged her. "Thanks for putting me in the moment."
"My pleasure." Lorelai said pulling away from her daughter.
"I would not have wanted to miss this."
"Good, and thank you."
"For what?" Rory asked confused. Not sure she did anything in the past few minutes to deserve a thank you.
"For pretending that at this very moment you're thinking about missing your tour, finding a phone jack or navigating your way through the Old Campus."
"It's my gift to you," Rory laughed.
"Let's go unload and get your new map."
"Oh, bless you," Rory said grabbing the old map from her mom's hands and walking out. Lorelai smiled and did a turn in the room. Her daughter would be just fine here.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Rory walked back to her dorm with a slight smile as she opened the door and walked in, stopping when she saw the furniture scattered around the dorm.
"Whoa," she muttered as she looked around. A nice couch was sitting in the place of the old couch that had been there. A bunch of overflowing boxes covered the hardwood floor. Rory sighed. Looks like one of her roommates was here. She started walking towards the room, when she saw a Post-it on the floor. Picking it up she noticed the initials P.G. on it.
With a frown Rory looked and saw that one door was free of a Post-it. Putting it in it's place she went to her room, only to stop when she noticed even more boxes in her room, and clothes scattered on both beds.
"Ror- Oh my god!"
"Mom?"
"What hurricane blew through here?" Lorelai asked as she met Rory in her dorm room.
"Looks like one of my roommates," Rory stated.
"You know who it is?" Lorelai stated looking at Rory as she picked up a shirt.
"I have a pretty good idea."
"Do you know how vulnerable you are to venereal diseases?" Lorelai asked.
Rory looked over at her confused. "All hail the queen of the non-sequiturs."
Lorelai shook her head. "This parent orientation I went to was a nonstop litany of the horrors awaiting college freshmen. You're supposed to carry a whistle, a flashlight, a crucifix and a loaded Glock with you at all times," Lorelai warned her.
"I'll keep that in mind," Rory laughed as they walked back out to the common room.
"Don't shake any of your new roommates hands. Bacteria."
"Mom," Rory laughed.
"Or tell them where you live."
"Oops, too late. I already handed out my business cards to all the stalker weirdoes," Rory teased.
"Oh! You touched the doorknob."
"And it looks like a missed one. I think I have an extra card in my book bag," Rory said with a roll of her eyes as they walked out of the room and stood outside in the hall.
"So this is it," Lorelai said.
"This is it."
"You'll be fine?" Lorelai asked worriedly.
Rory nodded. "I'll be great. Right now I'm going to go wonder around campus, get a few STD's and flunk out."
"And all on your first day. You sure do know how to make a mom proud."
"I'll be fine, mom," Rory reassured. "I really am going to go look around and come back, maybe see if my roommates came back."
Lorelai sighed. "All right, but just know nothing is stopping you from paging me to come back, you know. If you find that you're missing something or..."
"I'll be fine," Rory repeated. "And I know."
"You'll visit?"
"Every weekend."
"And you'll call?"
"Every minute, that you'll get sick of me."
"I better see high cell phone bills, missy."
"The highest," Rory said as she and her mother hugged. "Now go get Luke his truck back before he takes away your coffee."
"All right, I'm going. Love you."
"Love you too," Rory said hugging her once more. She watched as her mother started walking away, turned back, waved, then walked the rest of the way out of Yale. Rory bit her lip happily, as she made sure her key to the dorm was in her pocket, and started wondering around the campus.
Though Yale hadn't been the first choice in colleges, she was glad she'd made it, past the three years of Chilton and the ups and downs of her and Paris's relationships along with the ups and downs of her own personal relationships.
She was glad that though she was over the stress of high school and teenage life in general, that she was able to get back and in her own weird way enjoy a new kind of stress of college life, college finals, and now her own college romance.
She smiled giddily at the thought of Finn, and the luck that she had had in finding him, the perfect start of their relationship, and the new friends that she had gained. This was a new beginning for her, and she loved that she really had no clue what was going to happen in the future.
She was too giddy to even think about what would happen when Finn left for Fiji. She was too happy to even start thinking about the classes she would need to start taking soon, and she was way too ecstatic to even think about all the garbage bags and boxes she had to go through before she was even close to being unpacked.
Looking over she saw the campus pub where she knew Steph and Tristan would likely drag her, when she got into her studying mode, and oddly, she felt a sense of relief that she had friends that she could hang with.
Turning she walked back towards the dorm. It was time for reality, sadly, and she did have things to unpack. Crossing her arms over her chest to keep out the cold, she walked back to her dorm, looking over at the gates, hoping to see the old truck that belonged to Luke, but there was nothing.
Biting her lip once again, she dug out her key and put it in the lock, opening the door, only to find more boxes scattered around the common room. Leaving the door open she walked over to her room and sat on her bed.
She sort of wished that she had made her mom keep her company until her roommates arrived. Pulling out her pager on instinct, she started typing her mother a SOS message, when she heard a groan come from the common room. With a frown she dropped her pager on the bed and walked out, not noticing that her pager hit the bed sending the message out.
"Lift with your legs!" She heard a distinct female voice say in annoyance.
"Hey! You wanna lift this?" Rory smiled at the voice.
"No, now stop complaining." The blonde came into view and squealed when she saw Rory. "RORY!"
"Steph!" Rory squealed back, hugging the blonde. "I'm going to assume that all these boxes are yours?"
"You assume right!" Steph laughed. "Sorry I made a mess. I just ran out of room in the bedroom, then with your stuff... well, we just started piling it here."
"Not that this reunion isn't heartfelt," they heard from the doorway. They turned and saw Tristan holding something. He nodded at Rory, "Hey Mar."
"Hey Tris... What is that?"
"Steph's TV," Tristan replied. "Now can you guys move out of the way so we can get the blasted thing in?"
Steph rolled her eyes and she and Rory moved. Tristan started backing into the room, the flat screen TV moving with him, revealing another person holding up the other end. Rory smiled and went over to him.
"Hi Finn."
He smiled back as he stopped walking. "Hello love." They kissed briefly, causing Tristan to growl in annoyance.
"Carrying heavy TV here, you can reunite in a minute."
Finn pulled back. "I'll be right back."
"Holding you to that," Rory laughed as Finn started walking into their room.
"Dammit, Steph!" Tristan cursed.
"Yeah, there's really nowhere to put it, is there?" Steph asked herself as Finn and Tristan backed the TV out and dropped it near the fireplace with a thud. Finn grabbed it quickly before it fell, seeing as it was a TV that was better hung up than sitting and the base was unstable, while Tristan glared at his girlfriend.
"You're about this close to being single," Tristan threatened, putting his thumb and forefinger very close together to prove his point.
Steph raised an eyebrow. "Cool. You know, there's a guy down the hall with a really nice ass. Maybe if I left now I could catch up with him." Tristan glared at her while Steph smiled innocently. "You love me, Tris, you can't break up with me." She turned to Rory. "Now about the closet."
"I'm guessing we don't have enough space."
"You're guessing right."
Finn wrapped his arms around Rory's waist, resting his chin against the top of her head. "Why don't you get those plastic drawer shelve things that fit in closets,"
"Shoot," Rory muttered. "I forgot hangers."
Steph winced. "So did I."
"How about me and Rory go to the store and get the things you girls need while Steph tries to somewhat organize some things, and Tristan unpacks his own things," Finn suggested.
"You just want to make out with your girlfriend," Tristan muttered.
Finn smirked kissing the top of Rory's head. "And there's that."
Tristan sighed. "Fine, let's go get my stuff out of the truck then."
Finn kissed Rory before following Tristan out. The girls watched them walk out, down the hall towards the truck.
"We have such good boyfriends," Steph said.
"The very best," Rory smiled.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Lorelai parked the truck in front of Luke's and got out glaring at the truck. "You are the stupidest truck known to man!" She yelled at it. "See if I ever drive you again!"
"Are you yelling at my truck?"
Lorelai turned to see Luke looking at her with an amused smile. "You truck sucks! It kept stopping in the middle of the road whenever I tried to shift."
"'Cause you don't know how to drive a stick."
"I know how to drive a stick," Lorelai argued.
"You know how to stir a stick, not drive one."
"That one's already been used, get a new catchphrase," Lorelai muttered as she followed Luke to the diner. She stopped midway as her pager beeped.
"What's that?" Luke asked as Lorelai pulled out her pager.
"My pager," she muttered looking at the message. "Oh no."
"What?"
"Come back."
"I'm right here," Luke said annoyed.
"No," she said sending him a glance before looking back at her pager. "It's from Rory, it says 'come back' with about a dozen exclamation points." Lorelai started back towards the truck, Luke following her.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm taking your truck back to Yale."
"No way," Luke said. "You just said you were never going to drive my truck again which I gotta say sounds good right about now."
"I gotta go back," Lorelai fought.
"Take your own car, remember that concept?"
"No, it'll take too long to walk to the house to get it, plus it's out of gas, plus it's been making weird noises and probably can't take a long trip. Please, Luke?"
"I need my truck," Luke said, knowing that he would give it to her anyway.
"I need it more."
"You've had it all day," Luke pointed out.
"Don't you care about Rory?" Lorelai asked pulling out the trump card.
"You know I care about Rory!" Luke glared, then sighed. "Have it back by seven."
"Thank you, Luke," she said kissing his cheek. She got in the car sticking the key in the ignition and pulling the stick in a direction. The car lurched back, causing Lorelai to yelp and put her foot on the brake.
"That's reverse," Luke told her from the window.
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious," Lorelai muttered as she put the car in the right gear and drove off.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Maybe we… should… get… out… of the… car," Rory got out as Finn kissed her between each word.
Finn smirked. "It amazes me that you can still think about shopping at a time like this."
Rory raised an eyebrow. "The way I see it is the sooner we get the stuff, the sooner we can uncover the bed and the sooner Steph can go to Tristan's room and leave us the room."
"Now I understand how you got into Yale. My girlfriend is so smart," Finn muttered kissing her again before getting out of the car.
Rory rolled her eyes as Finn came around and opened her door. He helped her out, locked the doors and pocketed the keys. He pulled her to his side, causing her to wrap an arm around his waist as his arm dropped onto her shoulders.
They walked into the Hartford mall, getting a breeze of cool air that was better than the lingering heat of the summer outside.
"Okay, so where's the list?" Finn asked.
"What list?" Rory asked innocently.
"Love, when I left to help Tristan, you only needed the drawers and the hangers. I don't doubt that in the hour that I was gone you and Steph found out you needed more than that. Now where's the list?"
Rory sighed as she pulled the list out of her back pocket and unfolded it. "We need drawers, hangers, trashcans, along with light bulbs. We also need a mini fridge."
"Mini fridge?" Finn asked with a raised eyebrow. "You need one?"
Rory rolled her eyes. "Don't need, but want."
Finn smiled. "Then for all that we go to Bed, Bath and Beyond."
"Then let's go."
They got on the escalator, their fingers interlaced. Stepping off they headed towards the store, just as Finn's phone rang. Never letting go of her hand he dug out his phone and answered it.
"Rothschild." He frowned. "Hey Colin… no… I'm at the mall… No, with Rory… Just need to get some things. Why?"
Rory watched as Finn stopped and nodded into his phone. He let go of her hand to pat his pockets. "Just a minute." He looked at her. "Do you have paper and pen?"
Rory nodded pulling out a old receipt and a pen, and handed them over to Finn.
"Thanks," he said as he leaned down to write on his leg. "All right." He started writing nodding at each word. "Anything else?" He wrote something else down and handed the pen back over to Rory. "All right, I might be able to get them. All right, bye." He hung up and took her hand again, stuffing the phone and the list in his pocket.
"What was that about?" Rory asked.
"Colin wanted to know where I was so I could grab some last minute things for the trip."
"Like?"
"Rope and some boating supplies, first aid kits."
"Kits?" Rory asked. "As in plural?"
Finn smiled shyly as they walked into Bed, Bath and Beyond. She grabbed a cart and they started walking around the store.
"We've been known to do pretty stupid things when in the middle of nowhere."
"Like?" Rory asked nudging his hip with hers.
Finn shrugged. "We all get bored easily, especially if we're going to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean with no sign of land soon..."
"So you..."
"We jumped off the side of the boat once. We thought we were deeper... we weren't."
"Oh Finn," Rory cooed.
He ran a hand through hair, smiling at the memory. "I cracked the back of my head hitting the reef. When we got back on the boat we had one first aid kit and it didn't stop the blood. Long story short, by the time we met our parents they were pissed that we stained the boat. And my dad almost cracked me head again when he found out how stupid we'd been."
"When was this?" Rory asked with a frown as they reached the bedroom and office supplies.
Finn furrowed his brow. "Two summers ago," he said. "Or three. Logan and Colin came with me to visit my mum, and their parents came for a vacation. We convinced them to let us take the yacht out for a few weeks."
"And now they're letting you do it again?"
Fin laughed. "You're not the only one who can pull out the puppy dog eyes, love" He looked around. "Okay, now the drawers."
Rory smiled as she leaned on the cart and followed Finn.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Lorelai rushed to her daughter's dorm room. She wondered what had made her homesick and just what to do to help her daughter forget.
She reached her daughter's room and opened the door, only to see two blondes standing in the middle of the room glaring at each other.
"She said to organize things, Steph!"
"I can't organize my clothes unless I have hangers and guess what, Tristan, I DON'T HAVE HANGERS!"
"I'm sorry," Lorelai interrupted, causing them to turn.
"Lorelai, hi," Steph smiled.
"Hi Stephanie, Tristan."
"Lorelai," Tristan said crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at his girlfriend.
"I'm sorry, but Rory's not here," Steph said ignoring him. "I can tell her you stopped by."
"What do you mean she's not here?" Lorelai asked.
Tristan frowned. "She left with Finn."
"What?!"
Steph nodded. "Yeah, we don't have enough closet space, or hangers, or a trashcans, or light bulbs and about a hundred other things that we should have, but don't."
Tristan rolled his eyes. "They went to the Hartford mall to get them. They should be back soon. They left about an hour ago."
Steph shook her head. "Come on, Tris, you know about half that hour was spent making out."
"True, so give them another two hours."
Lorelai sighed. "I guess I came over for nothing."
"What do you mean?" Steph asked.
"Rory sent me a message, I guess it was before you guys got here."
"Why don't you call her?" Tristan asked.
"Good idea," Lorelai said pulling out her phone and dialing Rory's number.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Rory looked at the clocks that were sitting in front of her, deciding which was best, when her cell phone rang. Taking it out of her pocket she answered.
"CD or voice recording?"
"Voice recording." The voice on the other end answered.
"Mom?"
"Hey sweets."
"What's wrong? Oh, god, did you crash into something when using Luke's truck?"
"No!" Lorelai said quickly. "I may have skimmed a fire hydrant, but nothing major."
"Skimmed can have so many meanings."
"So not the reason I called," Lorelai pouted.
Rory sighed as she grabbed the voice recording alarm clock and put it in the basket. She turned around and saw Finn holding up two different first aid kits for her approval. "So why did you call?" She asked taking the biggest one and looking at it to see what it contained.
"You sent me a message, babe."
"I did?" Rory asked confused, taking the smaller kit and looking at that.
"Come back"
"I didn't send it."
"It came from your number," Lorelai accused.
"I mean I wrote it, but I didn't send it. Tristan, Steph and Finn came into the room, I dropped my pager on the bed… and oh."
"Oh?" Lorelai asked. "Oh!"
She turned to Finn. "Take the bigger one, it has colored bandages. That way if you crack your head open again, you're walking around Fiji with a pink bandage."
Finn laughed as he put the smaller one back and grabbed five more of the big first aid kits.
"I mean 'oh' as in when I dropped my pager it must have sent it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to go all the way back there, for me not even to be there."
"Why were you going to send it?"
Rory shrugged as she and Finn walked over to where they had mini fridges. "I don't know, I was sitting in the dorm, I was alone, it was…" she shrugged. "I felt homesick all of the sudden. I though you were still close and that maybe you could turn back and keep me company."
"Until your friends got there."
"No, I just…" Rory shrugged again. "I don't know."
"But now you're fine."
"The red one," she said to Finn as he stared at the little modern fridges.
"Why red?" He asked taking it off the shelf.
"'Cause it's cute, and it's bright, so me and Steph can find it at three in the morning."
Finn rolled his eyes as he put it in the cart.
"I'm more than fine, I was just overreacting I guess."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
"All right, then I guess I'll get going."
"Stay, mom, I feel bad about you having to drive from Stars Hollow to New Haven again. Stay, we'll order pizza and you can watch Steph and Tristan argue, it's great fun."
"Thanks for the offer, sweets, but I think I'm going to go. I should probably return Luke's truck once and for all."
"You sure?" Rory asked worriedly.
"Positive, spend time with your boyfriend and friends, I'll see you later."
"All right."
"Love you, kid."
"Love you too, mom." She heard the phone click off. Rory hung up her phone to see Finn watching her.
"Everything okay?"
"Yep, it's a long story." She looked into their full cart and looked up at her boyfriend. "Do we have everything."
"Looks like, I still need a few things from my list. But other than that, we're good."
"Great, then we can stop at the arts and crafts store," Rory said as they walked towards the checkout.
"Why?"
"So that Steph and me can decorate the drawers we got," she said as they stood in line near the candy.
"Of course," Finn said as he grabbed a few bars of chocolate and some gummy worms. They moved up in line and Rory started putting things on the counter, keeping a mental count of the items, hoping it was all within her limit.
Finn threw the candy bars on to the counter along with everything else.
"Hey, I was counting," Rory said.
"And I'm paying," Finn said as he moved in front of her.
"No, you're not," she argued as the cashier started charging things.
"Yes, I am, love."
"But most of it is mine."
"Yes, but you're my girlfriend."
Rory frowned at the logic. "Where does that come into play?"
"I buy things for you."
"Yeah, pretty things," Rory said not feeling comfortable with him paying for the things she and Steph needed.
"Once you decorate everything, they will be pretty."
Knowing that there was no point in arguing Rory sighed and nodded. "Fine, but I buy my own glitter paint."
He kissed the top of her head. "That's perfect, love." He pulled out his wallet, looked up at the total and pulled out his credit card handing it to the cashier. He didn't miss the sigh that escaped Rory's lips as he paid.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Hey, what are you doing back?" Luke asked as Lorelai sat a the counter dropping the truck keys into his hand.
"I came for coffee," Lorelai told him.
"They don't have coffee in New Haven?"
"Yeah."
"Then why aren't you getting coffee in New Haven?"
"What is it with everyone today!" Lorelai said loudly. "Does no one want me around anymore?!"
Luke looked at her surprised. "Lorelai, that's not what I-"
"'Cause I know I'm annoying and I know that I can be a bit protective, but come on, people! That's no reason to push me away."
"Cesar, I'm taking a break!" Luke shouted towards the back as he went around the counter. He took Lorelai by the arm and dragged her upstairs to the apartment, with her muttering the whole way. He opened the door and shoved her in.
"All right, talk," Luke ordered as he motioned for her to sit at the table.
"Talk about what?" Lorelai asked as she slumped down.
"Talk about what's bugging you."
"Can you make coffee?"
"I don't keep coffee up here, but if you talk, I'll give you a free cup downstairs."
"Fine," Lorelai said.
"So what happened? I expected you back tomorrow, not two hours later. Did you even go down there?"
"I did," Lorelai sighed. "I went down and found two blondes in place of my daughter."
"What?" Luke asked.
"I went to Rory's room and found Stephanie and Tristan, they're Rory's friends," Lorelai explained after noticing Luke's confused face. "She met them down in Martha's Vineyard. Well, actually she knew Tristan at Chilton."
"The one that bugged her?" Luke said remembering some of the morning conversations he would have with Rory before going to school.
"Yeah, that's the one. Well, they became friends and Stephanie is his girlfriend."
"All right."
"When I walked in, they told me Rory wasn't there and asked what I was doing there politely, seeing as society wouldn't expect anything less. I told them that Rory sent me the message and they said that she and Finn went to Hartford to buy some things."
"Things?" Luke asked.
"Drawers, light bulbs, trashcans and fridge. That's about all that I heard."
"So what happened?"
"I called her and asked her what happened. She said that she felt weird and lonely when I left, since no one else was there and that when she was writing that, Finn, Tristan and Steph came in. The message was sent accidentally."
"All right." Luke said with a frown, not getting why Lorelai was upset.
"All while she was explaining this to me, she was having a side conversation with Finn."
"He is her boyfriend, Lorelai."
"I know that!" She said "I just…" she looked down at the table fiddling with the pencil that had been there.
Luke smiled getting the point. "You have not been replaced."
Lorelai looked up startled. "What?"
"Rory hasn't replaced you."
"But how-"
"I know," Luke said.
"But how?"
"Come on, Lorelai, you and Rory both know that there are things that only you two can do together."
"Like?"
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Well, there's annoying the hell out of me."
"That's a fun one."
"There's mocking movies to the degree that you do. That insipid '1, 2, he's yours' game you do."
"That's right," Lorelai said smiling.
"And there's a bunch of other stuff that only mother and daughter like you two can do."
"But she's…"
"She's sharing a room with three other girls, she's has a boyfriend, she's going to college. Of course you're not going to be all she's focused on. But you're still a huge part."
Lorelai shook her head. "Yeah, I know. But there's still that little voice in the back of my head that whenever something is bad now, she has a bad day, gets a bad grade, falls and trips in the mud... There's that voice that says that she's going to call Finn in Fiji and not me, and I'm only two hours away. He's… He's half way across the world!"
"She's still going to call you."
"She's not," Lorelai protested.
"She may not call you first, but she's still going to call you. You're not going to be out of her life ever, Lorelai. No one can replace their mom."
"You didn't?"
"Had no one to replace her with," Luke pointed out. "But I wouldn't have if I did."
Lorelai smiled and nodded. "All right."
Luke nodded. "All right, why don't you stay up here a while, I'll go get you some coffee, maybe a burger."
"Lots of fries, I've had a hard day."
Luke nodded. "Yeah." He smiled, patted her hand softly and headed down the stairs, leaving Lorelai to think.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"Do you want to separate the clothes or mix?" Steph asked hoping for mixing as she saw a cute sweater on Rory's bed.
"I don't care," Rory responded, not caring either which way.
"Then we're mixing, the clothes are already jumbled up," Steph pointed out hanging up one of Rory's dresses and putting it next to one of her pair of jeans, starting the mixing process. "And I hope you know that you can borrow anything of mine, just like I hope you…"
"You can wear the sweater, Steph," Rory laughed as she stood up with a pile of folded shirts and put them away in the plastic drawers that were now in the closet. She and Finn had bought four of them, two for each of the girls. Rory had thought they were too many, but seeing the amount of clothes and the way Steph brought out the girly girl in her, she knew that if she didn't fill them up now, she was going to soon.
"Oh, thank you!" Steph said grabbing the sweater, putting it up to herself and looking in the mirror they had put at one corner of the room "'Cause I have a really cute outfit that goes with this."
"Well, that's good we ended up in a room together now, isn't it?" Rory said.
Steph grinned. "I didn't do anything."
"I noticed the Post-it on the ground when I came back."
Steph shrugged "Must have fallen off the door."
"Yeah, right," Rory laughed.
"Love?"
Rory looked over her shoulder as Finn walked into the room. "Yeah?"
"I think another one of your roommates just arrived." Finn said.
"Really?"
Finn nodded. "The funny thing is that she has the same name as that girl you and Tristan are always talking about."
"What girl?" Rory asked.
"Um…" Finn thought of the name. "The one you knew in high school."
"I'm sure we can move things around. I mean it's a common room, it's what you're supposed to do." Rory heard a voice from outside, causing her to walk out.
"Let it go," a male voice said.
"Paris?" Rory asked as she spotted her in the common room.
"That's the one," Finn said as Steph looked Paris over.
"How shocked are you?" Paris asked happily.
"Do you have a resuscitator?" Rory muttered staring at her.
"I'm going to Yale!"
"You… You're going to Yale?" Rory choked out, not quite believing it.
"And we're suitemates!"
"Of all the gin joints…" Rory said.
"Give me a hug," Paris said stepping forward, then stopping. "Wait!" She looked over at the man behind who gave a nod. Paris turned and smiled. "Give me a hug."
Rory hugged her briefly in shock before pulling back. "This is a massively big surprise."
"I was going to call and then I thought, 'Hey, let's wait and just be right in her face.'"
"I can't even feel my face anymore." Rory said poking her cheek. Yep, there was absolutely no feeling in her face.
"This is a good thing," Paris pointed out.
"No, yes, it's definitely a good thing. It's just again, my nose." Rory moved her nose. "It feels like clay." She looked over at Finn. "Does it look like clay, 'cause it feels like it."
"Same nose," Finn reassure kissing the tip of it.
"Oh," Paris said witnessing the exchange. "Uh, this is Terrence."
Rory turned and nodded at the man. "Hello."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Rory," Terrence said shaking her hand.
"Finally?" Rory asked.
"Terrence is my life coach."
"Your what?"
"Don't judge," Paris told her.
"I'm not!" Rory protested.
"Remember my nanny?" Paris asked. Before Rory could respond she kept going. "Well, I lost her over the summer."
"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry, Paris. What happened?"
"She opened a pupuseria in Boise."
"So she's okay?" Rory asked in relief.
"Yeah, but I was pretty lost. Then my rabbi conferred with my therapist who said a hypnotist he knew thought a life coach would be right for me. And that led to Terrence. He's here to assist me in whatever I need assistance in, from wardrobe, to diet to finding me a kick-ass gynecologist."
"Wow," Rory said in surprise.
"And he's done so much for my people skills. I can cope with the little annoyances now. Like," she turned to Steph who was smirking at her. "The old Paris would have been annoyed with your staring and smirking at her the entire times she's been talking to the point that she would have wanted to wring your blonde little neck until your eyeballs popped out."
"Oh!" Steph said taking a step back.
"But now, I accept it, because I can't control everything. Paris Geller," she introduced herself.
"This is our roommate Stephanie," Rory introduced. "And my boyfriend Finn," Rory said taking his hand.
"I can't wait to see his face." Steph muttered.
"Whose face?" Paris asked.
"You'll see," Steph smirked as she walked to the door. "I'll be back." She walked out laughing.
Paris frowned at her before turning to Rory. "So how'd you meet this loser?"
Rory opened her mouth to defend Finn, but Terrence cut her off.
"Paris, you don't have the right to judge others. Take a step back and reevaluate."
"Sorry," she said to Finn. "How did you two meet? Last time I remember you were in your bad boy phase."
Rory winced. "Me and Jess broke up a few weeks before graduation," Rory told her. "I meet Finn through Steph's' boyfriend."
"Who's Steph's boyfriend."
The door opened and Steph walked back in.
"Steph, I wasn't done unpacking and I really do want to meet my roommates you know. And if this is to stomp on a spider I swear to god we're breaking up."
"There," Steph said pointing at Pairs.
"What?" He looked up and his eyes widened.
"That face," Steph laughed slapping her hands happily.
"Tristan!" Paris said going over to him and hugging him. He awkwardly hugged her back and looked over at Rory, who shrugged.
"Hey Paris," Tristan said pulling back and standing behind Steph. "Long time no see."
"Yeah, too long. This is Terrence, he's my life coach."
"Nice to meet you finally," Terrence said shaking Tristan's hand.
"Finally?" He asked with a frown.
"You and I have a bit of a journey left to finish as well." Paris pointed out.
"Do we?" Tristan asked surprised. "I thought that verbal lashing you gave me a few years ago was the end of it."
"You ruined the play!" She yelled causing Tristan to step back.
"Paris," Terrence said putting a hand on her shoulder
"Come on, Terrence."
"Two steps forward, three steps back," Terence said in a soothing voice.
"But he was baiting me."
"Fish can choose not to bite."
Paris took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm sorry for the things that I said," she said through clenched teeth. "I'm hoping that we can get past that and work out our differences"
"Good girl. Tristan, how do you reply?"
"Uh…" He looked over at Rory for help, but she shrugged helplessly. "Sure," he said slowly.
"Excellent," Terrence said clapping his hands together.
"So, you're Steph and Rory's roommate?" Tristan said. "That's a weird how it worked out, you rooming with my girlfriend and friend and with me just living upstairs and all."
"Not really," Paris said. "When I told Terrence all about our history, meaning yours, Rory's and mine, he felt very strongly that our life journey was not complete."
"Hear that, Tristan, your life journey with Paris isn't complete," Steph said tongue in cheek.
"So my dad made a call and here we are." Paris shrugged.
"Here we are," Tristan sighed.
"Is that my room?" Paris asked gesturing behind them.
"If your initials are P.G., it is," Rory said. Paris walked to the room as Tristan and Rory glared at Terrence. He smiled happily as they walked into the other room. Tristan closed the door as Rory sat on the bed. Finn sat behind her, wrapping his arms around her as she leaned back in to him. Steph leaned against the desk next to Tristan.
"I would just like to point out that this is Tristan's fault." Rory said.
"What?" Tristan asked. "How the hell is this my fault?"
"You jinxed it."
"What?"
"All summer you're been talking about how funny it would be if Paris just showed up at Yale. You even made comments about rooming with us and now… now look what you did!"
"Yeah, Mar, 'cause I just have these voodoo powers."
"With all your teasing you sent out telepathic messages to her that gave her ideas and look where it got us!"
"You turn more and more into your mother each day, do you know that?" Tristan asked.
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment," Tristan pointed out, causing Finn to snort and Rory to elbow him in the gut.
"I'm am so glad I switched those Post-its," Steph muttered.
"So am I," Rory said gratefully.
"Come on, Rory, Paris doesn't seem that bad anymore," Tristan said.
Finn snorted. "The girl seemed a bit bipolar to me."
"She did give off that impression, didn't she?" Steph laughed.
"Well, at least this year'll be interesting," Rory said.
"There you go," Tristan pointed out. "Look on the bright side."
"I still say you jinxed it," Rory said leaning further against Finn.
"I have a plan," Finn said. "Why don't you girls finish unpacking, Tristan, go meet your roommates and let them know you have a girlfriend who has needs." Finns said, causing Steph to smile impishly, "And I'll run to the store and get some food. By the time I get back, you girls just might find a place to put that TV in here."
Tristan sighed and grabbed Steph. "I'm not going out there alone," he said as they walked out of the room leaving Finn and Rory alone.
"Do you really have to go?" Rory asked, leaning her head back to look at him.
"I'll be a few hours. I have to run a few errands, then I'm going to get you girls food," he said kissing her. "How do you feel about foods of the world?"
"Not sure."
Finn nodded. "The way I see it is you girls need to know the best place to get take out. I'll go to the places that me, Logan and Colin always ate from."
"Is it weird?"
"Is what weird?" He asked looking at her in confusion.
"That you're here helping me unpack and get ready for my first year, yet you're not doing the same?"
Finn shook his head. "Not really because I know I'm coming back."
"Hmm, and I love that idea. Now go, I'm starting to get hungry," she said pushing him off the bed.
"Going, going," he said grabbing his jacket.
"Oh, and get the take out menus."
"What?" Finn asked looking over at her as he put on his jacket.
"Yeah, the menus. That way we can just order from the room next time. All those places have to have delivery."
"Any place has delivery if you pay them enough, love," Finn laughed as he left the room just as Steph entered.
"Where's Finn going?"
"He's getting our dinner," Rory smiled as she and Steph started working on getting the room into semi order.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"I think we did it," Steph said in surprise three hours later as she fixed her bedspread.
Rory nodded as she put the last book on the shelf and looked around the now clean room. "I didn't think we'd be able to, but then again..."
Steph flopped down on her bed, her arms spread wide and smiled. "God, I can't believe we're actually in college."
"Oh yeah?" Rory asked as she started setting the clock. She had yet to record the voice message that would be waking her up in the morning. But she'd figure that out later. "Why's that?"
"I thought I'd stay in the drama filled halls of high school forever," Steph said sitting up and sitting cross-legged on her bed. Rory sat the same on her own bed looking at Steph. "Then with Tristan being in North Carolina and only seeing each other during holidays, and the guys being in Switzerland," Steph shrugged. "I didn't get along much with the people at my school."
"Too much drama?"
"It was the worst," Steph said. "I love gossip, but not if it's going to be hurting people, which I know makes no sense," Steph shrugged. "It just seemed like everyone was trying to backstab someone in that damn school. You get tired after the first day or so. It just seemed that by the last week of school, graduation was never going to come."
"I know what you mean," Rory said playing with her comforter.
"You were valedictorian, right?"
Rory nodded. "Yeah."
"Did it seem like everything just wasn't going to end?"
"Actually," Rory shrugged. "A few weeks before graduation my boyfriend at the time had left. I didn't even notice till the week of graduation."
"How do you not notice?" Steph asked, not having heard the story of Jess.
"We were sort of fighting about something really stupid and I just didn't see him or talk to him. Last time we talked was on the bus and I didn't see him after that. Then with finals, and the speech and packing for the Vineyard, I guess graduation sort of came before I knew it."
"Did you like Chilton?"
Rory laughed. "It had its moments. I didn't have a set group of friends though. By the end me and Paris could have been deemed friends, but it was weird. It's a good school, excellent teachers, but sucky socialization skills."
Steph laughed. "All private schools are like that. It's such an incestuous group too. Did you notice that?"
"All the guys sleep with al the girls and all the girls sleep with that guys friends..." Rory shrugged. "I never understood how they didn't get STD's."
"Private school kids are smart. They know better than to get someone pregnant or STD'd."
Rory laughed. "STD'd?"
"It's a word!" Steph said.
"No, it's not, but I get what you mean."
They heard the door open and the guys talking before their bedroom door opened and Finn and Tristan stopped in their tracks.
"Holy crap, is this really your room?" Tristan asked as he walked in and put down a box of food on Rory and Steph's dressers.
"Yes," Steph said hugging her pillow. "Why?"
"It's huge," Finns said setting down another box and looking around. "Was it this big when I left?"
Rory rolled her eyes. "We just cleaned up a bit."
Seeing as the room was meant to be shared by two people, the room was bigger than most suites. There was a window on the left side of the room, Steph's bed sitting under the window, her desk, which she had decorated with pictures of her and Tristan along with her and her friends was to the left of it and her large dresser was on the right a few inches away from her small nightstand. Her dresser was covered with necklaces and earring racks so that they wouldn't get tangled or mixed up, along with her makeup.
Rory's bed was against the front wall. Two shelves sat above the bed, one held some DVD's that had been Lorelai approved, while the other held a select amount of CD's that Lane deemed Yale worthy. On the left of her bed was a nightstand that held her clock. Then to the right was her desk that held a picture of her and her mom, and one of her, her mom, father and grandparents at her cotillion when she was seventeen.
They had the long mirror in the corner of the room which was next to the closet they had filled with all their clothes. It had been a close stretch with the hangers, but they had made them last until the last pair of jeans had been hung. Then her dresser sat next to the door.
"The room is missing something," Finn said.
"Curtains and a rug," Rory said.
"Rory's already talked to Lorelai about it, and Lorelai is on it." Steph told them.
"I was talking about this," Finn said handing a small package over to Rory.
"Hey Steph, why don't you help me with the rest of the food." Tristan said, stariting to back out of the room.
"But it's cold outside," Steph protested.
"So get a sweater."
"But..."
"Steph, they're about to have a moment," Tristan spelled out for her.
"Ohhh..." Steph said nodding her head. She put on her slippers and grabbed a jacket. "We'll give you ten minutes," Steph said as she left the room.
"I'll try for twenty," Tristan told Finn. "But no promises," he smirked as he closed the door.
"Our friends are such freaks," Rory said as Finn sat on her bed.
"Yes, they are, but we love them. Now open your present."
"What is it?" Rory asked.
"You have to open it," Finn laughed.
Rory smiled as she ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the box. She looked up at Finn as she uncovered the content inside. "Oh my..."
"Do you like it?" He asked.
"I love it," she said taking out the picture frame. "How'd you know I didn't have any?"
"I met up with Tristan and Steph when they got here, and helped them with their stuff. And Steph told me that she had sent the pictures to be developed and that they'd be ready this afternoon. So when I left early, I called in the order of all the food and went to pick up the photos. I saw that one whole camera was of us during that goodbye BBQ."
"Finn," Rory smiled.
"I thought that one captured the moment perfectly."
Rory looked down at the picture. It was of them sitting in the sand, Finn's arm around her as she leaned against him laughing, while he said something in her ear with a smile. It gave off the impression that they were sharing some personal secret that only they knew.
"It's perfect," Rory said. She got off the bed and went over to her desk, putting it between the two picture she had there. She smiled and turned to Finn. "Absolutely perfect."
"Good."
"Now let me see the rest of those pictures," Rory laughed.
"Nope."
"Come on, Finn, let me see them!" She said getting on the bed and reaching into his coat.
"They're not in there," Finn laughed pulling away.
"Come on, I want to see them," she said going through the inside pockets. Finn wrapped his arms around her waist, so the she fell forward and braced her hands on his chest. He brought her down and kissed her.
She pulled back. "I want to see them."
"Shut up and kiss me before Tristan and Steph get back," Finn muttered pulling her back down so that she was lying on top of him on the bed. He nipped her lips and soothed the nips with his tongue, causing her to open her mouth, letting his tongue explore.
"All right, we're..." They both looked up and saw Steph with a wicked gleam. "And now I know why Tristan wanted to do it behind the library."
Tristan rolled his eyes as he entered the room. "It wasn't the only reason." He set the box down. "So what'd you think?" Tristan asked.
Rory sat up and ran a hand through her hair. "About what?"
"Her mind's still foggy, Tristan. Why don't you boys go get the TV from the living room while Rory's mind clears."
Finn laughed and kissed her softly. "This is why you should have gotten your own room," he laughed as he got off the bed and went to the living room to help Tristan with the TV.
"What are you guys doing?" Finn and Tristan looked up as they picked up the TV, to see Paris standing at her door in her pajamas.
"We were going to move Stephanie's TV into her and Rory's room," Tristan said as they started walking towards the room.
"I hope you know that you aren't the only people in here," Pairs said.
"I thought you said you could accept the little annoyances, Paris." Tristan pointed out as they put the TV down carefully on the small space of Rory's dresser that was not covered in the food filled boxes and saw that the girls had already put the hook in the wall so they could hang it up.
"I can, I would just like to point out that there's this thing called common courtesy."
Rory sighed. "Paris, would you like to join us? I think we have enough food."
"I wouldn't want to be the third wheel," Paris said as they guys hooked the TV up to the cable and plugged it in.
"You wouldn't be," Steph said. "I mean... It would give us a chance to get to know each other better."
Paris hesitated before nodding. "Fine."
"Great," Rory said. "Help yourself to some food."
"Is there any dairy? You know what dairy does to me," Paris said as she walked over to the boxes that held the food.
"I'm sure you'll find something dairy-free," Rory said as Steph went over to Rory's bed.
"So what do you think?" Steph asked.
Rory looked over at her friend as the guys argued over what wire went where. "About what?"
"Do you think I could take her?"
Rory laughed, causing Steph to smile. "Oh Steph, she'd have you pinned before you even lifted whatever you call a fist."
"Damn," Steph muttered before going back over to her bed.
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AN: Okay, so I didn't really mean for the chapter to be this long. Trust me, I didn't. I had started writing it, and I was copying the transcript and I ended up getting bored of it. And a few days ago I was sitting on my bed thinking about this story. I tend to think a lot about it, seeing as it's the one I usually want to write during class, but can't 'cause I don't have the transcripts.
So I was thinking, and I thought, if I'm bored just writing the transcripts, then you guy would get bored just reading them. I mean you've seen the episode, you don't need to read it too. And I started thinking, and well... I deleted about half of what I had written and started over. You'll notice that some of the convos are from the show, just different people saying them and things like that.
Also, chapters are bound to be this long. When I started this, I knew that I didn't want to cut episodes from the show in half and turn them into different chapter. I'd rather just write it all out and have it stay for a while.
I'm sorry it took so long, but I know that the next few chapters are ones that I've been looking forward to writing. Also thanks for waiting, and I hope this keeps you guys happy till I'm able to write again.
Kassandra