AN: I had something really important I wanted to say about this chapter, but for some stupid reason I didn't write it down. Oh well, enjoy.
AN2: I remembered! Last night I was at work, concentrating on something else entirely and this thought popped into my head - Parenthood. That's what I wanted to say, I sat there watching the pilot episode, twice, because it was just so awesome, and I was thinking to myself 'this is what I wanted to write!' The whole Sarah storyline, except, I guess, without the ex-husband, but still, that's what I had in mnd when I started this. Not quite what came out though. Anyway, that was my 'really important' message I had to share.
Lorelai grinned as she accepted Luke's hand, following him towards the floor as the music started up and put her arms around his neck. Getting him to agree to this particular setting for their date wasn't quite as hard as she'd anticipated. All it really took was a hair flip and a smile while wearing a fabulous black dress and he'd said yes. Ah, the powers of persuasion.
"Hey, have I thanked you enough for this?" she asked after a while of silently moving to the music.
"I'm not sure yet. We can probably come to some sort of agreement later on though."
"Oh, well, good. As long as we have a plan in place," Luke nodded as the song continued and they fell silent again.
"You did not!" Sookie objected, staring at Lorelai.
"I did. He did."
"You're lying. You have to be lying! Luke would never-"
"I swear, Sookie, I'm telling the God's honest truth."
"I don't believe it! I don't, I'm sorry, but I just can't- what are you doing?" she asked as Lorelai pulled out her cell phone and pressed a button.
"Hey, are you busy right now?" Lorelai asked into the phone, holding up a finger, indicating for Sookie to wait. "Well, ok, I just need a second, can you please tell Sookie that I'm not making it up, I'm not crazy or- Hey!" she was silent for a moment. "Just tell her what we did this weekend... The bit before that! Come on, don't be gross!" Lorelai handed the phone to Sookie, who frowned for a moment before her eyes widened and she stared at Lorelai as if she were sitting astride a unicorn.
"He had to get back to work." Sookie explained, handing the phone back to her friend.
"Well, did he tell you?"
"Yeah, he did."
"So?"
"Where does your magic come from?" Lorelai laughed. "I'm serious! You must have like... some kind of superpower mixed with voodoo or something really powerful, because I don't think Luke has ever, ever willingly danced in his entire life. And that's not really hard stat for me to give, because I've known him almost all of the time he's been alive."
"I don't know what to tell you, I just asked and he agreed."
"He agreed? Just like that, you asked and he said yes without any hesitation?"
"Well he put up a little bit of a fight, but like you said, I'm magic, I was able to convince him."
"Ohh, now I understand." Sookie nodded.
"What?"
"You 'convinced' him." The chef replied, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Sookie!"
"Well, that's the only way I can think-"
"Are you guys being gross, or is this conversation suitable for minors to hear?" Rory asked coming over to stand beside the two women.
"Go on into the kitchen for a minute Pumpkin." Sookie replied.
"Oh, good, it's a gross one. Ok, well I just came to ask if I can borrow the Jeep? I was talking to Grandpa just now and he said that he had a book he wanted to give me. Apparently it can't wait til Friday, so Jess and I are going over now. So can I?"
"You'll have to get more gas." Lorelai replied, reaching for her purse under the desk and fishing out her keys.
"You do that on purpose, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" she replied, in mock-outrage.
"Sure you don't. Ok, well, we'll be back sometime later. What were you thinking for dinner? Pizza? Al's Luke's?"
"I'm going to cook."
"You are?"
"I resent that face! I've cooked before and you haven't once ended up in the hospital with food poisoning."
"No, not in the hospital..."
"Rory!"
"Sorry. I know you're cooking isn't bad. I'll go now. I'll even stop by the mall and try to find a nice daughter to send home for you. Sound good?"
"A really, really nice daughter, and we'll see."
"Bye Sookie."
"Bye Peanut!"
"You'll have to get Jess's approval too, don't forget." Lorelai called out as Rory rolled her eyes.
"Ok, so, you've probably got a lot to do, right?" Lorelai asked, glancing at a notebook with a list of things she still had to do. "You should be getting back to the kitchen and I'll make a start on some of these phone calls."
"But we were-"
"Done talking, yeah. So, I'll see you in a little bit, ok?"
"I was just having fun."
"Yes, I know, and you'll have even more fun when you see Luke in person and you can tease him. But make sure you aren't too harsh, because I'd like to at least be able to bring that up again someday. It was a lot of fun."
"Deal." Sookie nodded and turned back to the kitchen as Lorelai picked up the phone and began to dial the number of their linen supplier.
"Do you have any idea what's in that notebook Rory's always carrying around?" Lane asked Jess one afternoon, abandoning staring at her math homework.
"What notebook?" he asked, hoping she didn't notice the panic in his eyes or voice.
"How have you never seen it? It's this black and blue thing with post-it notes sticking out every which way. It's- ooh! Is she secretly connected to KFC, related to the Colonel somehow? Does she have the eleven secret herbs and spices in there? And the special sauce at McDonalds?" Lane fired off rapidly. "Because that would mean she would have access to a lot of money that she could be sharing with us, her nearest and dearest-"
"I don't know what it is." Jess replied, shaking his head. "But I doubt there's any money in it."
"Maybe it's the great American novel." She added after a moment.
"You really think so?"
"Sure, why not? Someone's got to write it and she's probably had enough life experiences to fit the bill. Come to think of it, anyone who's spent more than five minutes in this town with the ability to string half decent sentences together could probably come up with something at least worth skimming."
"Yeah, probably,"
"You would actually be terrific!"
"What?"
"Yeah!" Lane replied enthusiastically. "I mean there are times that your verbalisation leaves something to be desired, but you definitely have a talent with the written word. Your work at the Franklin is proof enough of that, even with that scary Paris girl always trying to give you crappy articles to write, you still always manage to make them great."
"Thanks Lane."
"What are best friends for?" Jess just smiled. "Besides, I have to tell you these things now so that when you're a Harvard-grad, award-winning whatever you remember I've been here from the beginning, supporting you every step of the way and you're so overcome with gratitude you feel the need to buy me a Maserati or something."
"I'm going to feel the need to buy you a Maserati, am I?"
"Well, yeah, but when the time comes I'll talk you out of it. I'll tell you that just being your friend, and having witnessed all of your greatness is enough of a reward for me, I don't need anything else."
"That's very nice of you."
"Nothing else except maybe... Oh, I don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something by the time you've made your fortune."
"Good to know." He returned to his homework, glancing up at Lane a few moments later to make sure she was focused on her book as well and wasn't about to start asking questions again.
"Ok, this, right here, is not good." Jess announced, sitting beside Rory on a bench outside of Chilton the next afternoon. She looked up at him, closing the book she was reading.
"Problem?"
"Yes, you reading that."
"You haven't had a problem with me reading this in ages. What happened?"
"You're doing it out in public where anyone can see you."
"These people don't pay attention to me, don't worry about it."
"Well Lane does. She saw you, started asking questions."
"She's your best friend, you really should have told her by now." Rory replied.
"But I don't want to."
"Well you didn't want to tell me either, but we found a way around that, didn't we?"
"You can't change my mind about it this time."
"Wanna bet?"
"I'm serious Rory."
"Twenty bucks?"
"Not going to happen."
"Thirty."
"Please just put it away."
"I can't go higher than forty."
"Put it away and don't let anyone catch you with it. That's all I ask. I'll even cook you dinner to sweeten the deal, please?"
"You drive a hard bargain, mister." Rory slipped the book in between a couple of others in her bag. "But I suppose I can accept your terms. It just better be a good dinner."
"Have I ever made you a bad dinner?"
"Not to my recollection, but there's a first time for everything,"
"Not for this. You forget that the cooking gene is strong in the males of my family. Both sides."
"Your father never made me anything, so I don't know that for sure."
"Well I'm telling you it is, that should be enough of an assurance, shouldn't it?"
"Hmm, I suppose I'll just have to take your word for it."
"Good idea."
"Although, I could call Lily, ask her, she'd tell me the truth right?"
Jess shook his head. "We should get going if we want to get to work on time."
"Do we want to get to work on time?"
"Come on."
"It's getting really good," Rory added as they headed towards the bus stop, switching back to their earlier topic. "I may just crack and have to share it with someone soon."
"Isn't it more fun to have this amazing read all to yourself that no one else in the world knows about?" Jess asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Damn! It is, why'd you have to say that?"
"Because I'm a genius."
"Hmph!"
When the two of them arrived at the diner a short time later, they walked in, expecting Luke to be ready with a glare and a lecture about arriving on time. Instead, what they saw terrified them a little.
Luke stood behind the counter, Liz, Lorelai and Lane all on stools in front of it, talking excitedly. When the bell sounded their arrival, the four at the counter looked up and their grins grew even larger.
"Oh, good, you're here!" Luke called enthusiastically.
"Did we just step into some bizarro world?" Rory asked Jess, glancing at him quickly, before looking back towards the smiling faces.
"I'm not sure... Maybe we should go out, come back in, see if that-"
"Stop it!" Liz interrupted, crossing the room to grab a hold of each of them. "Come over here, you got something in the mail today. Both of you."
"We already got our SAT results, what else could possibly cause this level of excitement, and, might I add, creepy jovial faces?" Rory checked, walking over to where she was instructed, Jess right by her side.
"Look!" Lorelai pointed at the counter and everyone watched as the two teens took in what sat before them.
"Oh my God." Rory stared open-mouthed "They're beautiful."
"Impressive letterage," Jess added.
"When did this..."
"Just now. I went to check the mail box, and sitting right there underneath the latest Sephora catalogue, was the beautiful H!" Liz explained as Lorelai nodded.
"Yeah, and I was just going to duck home for a minute to change because I went to talk to Sookie and she spilled marinara sauce on me," Jess and Rory looked at her, for the first time, noticing the large orange stain on her blouse. "But just as I was going inside, the mail came and I rushed right over here, because you were supposed to be working and I wanted you to see. But then you weren't here and we've been waiting anxiously for your arrival!"
"Well we're here now, so hand them over already."
"We even cleaned the counter."
"You...?"
"We made Luke clean it, to make sure it wasn't contaminated."
"My counter is not contaminated." Luke objected.
"No, not usually, but, we can't take any chances with this." Liz explained. "It's Harvard, you know?"
"I know."
"Come on, come on!" Lane urged them. "Get started, please?"
"Why don't you get started?" Jess asked, digging through his bag for a pen, before Luke cleared his throat, holding up two.
"Because none of my applications have arrived yet, and even when they do, it won't be anything like this, because Seventh Day Adventist colleges will never be in the same league as Harvard."
"She's got a point." Rory nodded, fiddling with the pen Luke had given her, reaching towards the paper.
"Woah! Woah! What do you think you're doing?" Liz asked, putting out a hand to stop her.
"Filling out my-"
"You have to take it in first, absorb the enormity, prepare yourself for what this means."
"Or you could ignore Liz and just fill it out like any normal person would do." Luke suggested.
"How exactly do we prepare ourselves?" Rory enquired, amused.
"Just hold it, feel the weight of its importance." Rory grinned as she followed these instructions, Jess, beside her, doing the same thing. "Now you read," Liz added after a few moments, when Luke looked about ready to explode. "Only then once you've carefully taken everything in do you begin the filling out process."
Jess shook his head at his mother's antics before opening his application and beginning to read aloud what needed to be filled in before reaching, "Personal statement,"
"Oh, you are going to rock that!" Liz announced, beaming at her son.
"You can evaluate a significant experience that's had an impact on you. Or you can write about a person who has had a significant influence on you."
"How about one of your authors?" Luke suggested.
"It's a good thing we've got a few weeks before this thing is due," Rory decided. "This is going to take forever."
"You're both going to do great!" Lorelai told them as the phone rang and Luke turned to answer it.
"Lorelai, you gotta get back to the inn." He told her, slamming the phone down.
"Why?"
"Because you're supposed to be there now and Michel just called and yelled at me,"
"No, honey, he was yelling at me."
"Yeah, but he was doing it into my ear. Tell him if he ever does that again I'm going to come down there and strangle him with one of his fancy silk ties."
"Will do, Rory can I borrow something to wear, since I apparently have to be back at work ten minutes ago?"
"Sure." Rory nodded, glad to have a reason to leave the room. "Let's go see what's available at chez Rory." She added, heading towards the curtain as the others refocused on Jess and the application.
AN2: Happy 71st anniversary of The Wizard of Oz!