A/N: Thank you for the lovely reviews, peops. Again, apologies for the delay. The ridiculously hot weather here is not conducive to me or my computer functioning so well :( Still, here is the penultimate chapter of this story (at last!) and the final one will follow in due course, so keep an eye out ;)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 31
As April blurred into May, time just seemed to start flying. Everybody had something to do all of the time, with hardly a minute to spare. If Rory wasn't studying or actually taking finals, she was helping her mom with the inn or wedding arrangements. Jess pitched in where he could too, putting in shifts at the diner to free up Luke so he could assist Lorelai with a view to having her head not explode pre-wedding day and inn opening. Of course, Jess had other priorities too, like finishing up his single year at Yale and getting the manuscript of his short novel into the best possible shape then pitching it to publishers. It meant that Jess and Rory didn't see quite as much of each other as they might've liked for a couple of weeks, but summer was coming and then they ought to get the chance to spend some real quality time, at least when Jess wasn't working for a living.
"It's getting ridiculous," Rory complained, heaving a huge sigh. "I just can't fit everything in, at least not if days keep being as little as twenty-four hours long."
"Come on, Gilmore, let's put a halt on the whining," said Paris, rolling her eyes as she turned from her desk to stare at her friend. "What do you need? I mean, obviously, I can't study for you and I'm certainly not taking your place on some date with my brother, but if there's anything on your plate that I can help with, tell me now."
"Are you sure, Paris?" asked Rory. "I mean, you have your own finals plus Doyle and the paper and everything."
"Stop helping me to find excuses not to help you," Paris insisted, getting up and coming over to her friend's side of the room. "For God's sakes, the self-flagellation should've ended weeks ago. I know it took me a little longer than it took Jess to forgive you for what you did with Huntzberger, but that's to be expected. He's the one that's in love with you, not me. Personally, I'm still appalled by your taste. If you were going to cheat, I'm sure you could've found someone more worthy, but that's just my opinion."
Rory looked away, as ashamed of herself as she had been before. Jess forgave her for her mistake, partly because he had easily fallen into the trap of making one of his own in the heat of the moment, but more so because he loved Rory and and knew she was truly sorry. Paris was a whole other ballgame. She was determined to sentence Rory to a set amount of time in which she must be without her friend and confidante at Yale so that she might learn her lesson. Rory had to admit, she had always thought that getting rid of Paris for a while might not be so bad, but actually, it had been truly awful.
"You know I'm sorry that the way I acted affected us so much, Paris," she said honestly. "I apologised to Jess so many times, but I really hadn't thought about how it affected you."
"Being stuck in the middle between my brother and my best friend was in no way amusing to me," said Paris, folding her arms across her chest. "I thought I made that pretty clear. Now, give me something to do before I change my mind about helping."
Apparently, they weren't going to address the fact that Paris just referred to Rory as her best friend, but that was okay. Knowing how she and Jess were about expressing their sibling-type love for each other, Rory couldn't really think that Paris would be any more comfortable with talking about a friendship-level of affection either. It was still nice to know she meant so much to her though.
"Um, I'd love to give you something off the list, Paris, but there's not much that's... well, transferable," Rory considered. "Not unless you want to go to Stars Hollow for me?"
"To do what exactly?"
"Well, a couple of things actually. Mom and Sookie were hoping I'd be an extra pair of hands for inn stuff this Sunday, since most of next week they'll be concentrated on the wedding, and I said I'd take a shift at the diner for Jess on Saturday since he has so much to do already and neither of us wants to let Luke down. Honestly, I should stay here and study but I was going to take my books with me and try to fit in the reading for my last couple of finals around my other tasks-"
"I'll go," said Paris easily.
"Seriously?"
"Yes, Gilmore, seriously. God, why would I say it if I didn't mean it?"
Rory grinned big. It was true enough that Paris could be a real pain in the ass sometimes and more than a little crazy to boot, but honestly, she could be such a great friend too. Acting on instinct, Rory launched herself at Paris and hugged her tight. It was a nice surprise to find she was being hugged back rather than pushed away.
"I actually like working in the diner," Paris confessed as they parted, "and I really haven't been involved in the wedding arrangements at all. You know, Lorelai has been... not exactly a substitute mom, but a cool aunt, certainly."
"Well, you are Jess' sister, and Mom is marrying Luke, so... I guess she kind of will be your aunt a week from Saturday." Rory smiled.
"Yeah." Paris smiled right back. "I guess she will."
"I mean, it's an improvement. She's talking to me, kind of, a little, but she refuses to come see the apartment and any time I even vaguely mention Zach, well, the expression is too scary to mention."
Lane sighed and tossed another wedding favour into the box, looking forlorn. Lorelai and Sookie shared a look, not really knowing what to say for the best. They had both tried to get Mrs Kim to go easy on her daughter, but she was having none of it, and there was only so much bear-poking they were prepared to do. Lorelai had hoped roping in Lane to help with a whole bunch of tasks to do with the wedding and the inn this weekend would cheer her up, but all she had done so far was complain and look sad.
"Sweetie, I'm sure she'll come around in time," said Sookie kindly, patting Lane's hand. "She's your mother and she loves you, she's just... well, it's a lot for her to take in."
"It's been more than a month." Lane shook her head. "I thought she would be over the worst of it by now."
"Yeah, we're talking about your mother," said Lorelai with a look. "She's right up there on the unforgiving scale with my mother. It's gonna take a little more time than that, babe."
The back door suddenly opening got all three of them to look up at once, expecting maybe Luke or even Rory. They all got a surprise when they saw who was actually there.
"Paris? What are you doing here?" asked Lorelai. "I thought you were covering Jess' shift at the diner today."
"I was but Luke knew if he left the diner to come here, he would get roped into the parts of the wedding arrangements that would drive him crazy, so he said he would rather let me go early, if I would agree to come help out with favours or table decorations or whatever it is you're doing."
"A little of both of those things plus a whole lot more," said Sookie, looking around at the devastation across the kitchen table, counters, and floor.
"An extra pair of hands is always welcome, Paris, but you already volunteered to help with the menus and linens for the inn tomorrow. I can't ask you to do anymore."
"You're not asking, I'm volunteering," she reminded her, removing her jacket and literally rolling up her sleeves. "It's what family is for. Now, point me at a benign and pointless task that you feel will make your wedding day perfect."
Lorelai couldn't help but smile, partly in amusement at the way Paris phrased it but mostly at just how sweet the girl could be, despite what some might think. She soon had her daughter's boyfriend's pseudo sister sat by her, tying ribbons in perfect bows on favours for the wedding reception. Unfortunately, all this was done to a litany of sighs and grumbles from Lane that did kind of seem to be never-ending of late.
"You know, they always talk about how disappointing children can be, but personally, I'm looking to the parents on this one," said Paris, shaking her head. "I mean, sure, you've been great with Rory, the best actually" she told Lorelai easily.
"Well, thank you, Paris. That's very sweet."
"Sure, no problem, but look at the other side of the scales. Jess' dad left the day he was born, didn't bother to check in again until he was eighteen. Rory's dad is pretty absent from the picture, and my father, although technically he still lives in the same house as me, probably couldn't pick me out of a line up these days, he sees so little of me.
"My mother is in even more permanent absence from my life these past three years than she was when she was still married to Dad, and that's really saying something, and as for Liz, my God, that woman is a shocking example of motherhood. I'm not saying she didn't try to be nice to me or that she doesn't care for Jess at all, but she's certainly disappointed a lot of people in her time, her son chief amongst them."
"Add my parents to your list and I'll give you an 'amen,' Paris," said Lorelai with a wry smile.
"I have to admit, as much respect as I have for Richard and Emily, they can be somewhat judgemental," Paris considered. "As for your mother," she continued then, looking to Lane, "she ought to be thanking God for a daughter like you. I mean, look at you, you're nineteen years old with your own job, your own accommodation, and from what I hear you're not letting that guitar-playing doofus of a boyfriend of yours pop your cherry until you get a ring on your finger. What kind of mother complains about these things?"
Nobody could answer that question, not least because they were all so shocked by the blunt turn of phrase that they couldn't form words at all. After all this time, Lorelai, Lane, and even Sookie ought to be used to Paris' ways and yet she could still surprise them sometimes.
"I have half a mind to let Mrs Kim know about some of the depraved and downright disturbing behaviour I've seen at Yale this year. It may be an Ivy League college, but you should see some of the displays I've seen. I swear, if your mother saw them, Lane, she would think you were a real-live angel by comparison."
Tossing one more favour into the box, Paris declared she was going to the bathroom and disappeared from the room. Lane, Lorelai, and Sookie were sharing astonished looks for a good thirty seconds after that, until finally Lorelai spoke.
"Well, if nothing else comes out of today, I think we solved one problem," she considered. "Maybe the way to get through to Mrs Kim is just to set Paris on her."
As crazy as it sounded, Lane couldn't help but think she might be right!
"Marty, hey!" Rory smiled widely when he opened the dorm door to her knock. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. How's things?"
"Things are good," he told her, smiling just as wide. "I've been a little busy, you know, with studying and... well, my girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" she echoed as he ushered her inside. "How come I didn't know about this?"
"Like you said, we kind of haven't seen each other much lately," said Marty, shifting awkwardly, "but I'm glad you're here now. I've missed you and Paris actually. Not that I've even seen that much of Jess lately either, and he lives in the next room. I hear him sometimes, moving around in there but, yeah, we haven't really been hanging out much. It's been a weird couple of months."
"It really has," Rory agreed, nodding her head. "Um, you do know about Jess leaving?"
"Sure, yeah. He told me about that. Kinda sad."
"Kinda is," she agreed easily, "but I'll be back next year and so will Paris. We should really make more of an effort to hang out. I mean, if you want to."
"I'd love to. I really think you and Lucy would get along."
"Lucy? Oh, the girlfriend!" Rory realised aloud. "Right, yeah. We should definitely make sure that happens."
They both turned as Jess' door came open very suddenly.
"I thought I heard your voice," he said, smiling at Rory.
"Hey. Look, the lesser-spotted Marty."
"I know. I've barely seen him and I live here," Jess agreed. "You know, he has a girlfriend now?"
"I've been hearing."
"Guys, standing right here," Marty reminded them.
Rory tried not to laugh as Jess smirked terribly.
"Sorry, man."
"It's cool," Marty assured his buddy, rolling his eyes. "Nice to see you, Rory," he said then, raising a hand in a wave before retreating back into his own room.
"You too, Marty!" she called as he disappeared. "Aww, I missed him."
"Well, you'll have time to hang out with him next year," said Jess, wandering out to stand in front of Rory and taking hold of both her hands in his own. "In fact, I plan on encouraging it."
"Really? Why's that?"
"You and Paris need somebody to watch your back when I'm not around. Marty's not quite as cool as me, but he'll do," said Jess, smirking all over again.
"Oh, I dunno" Rory teased him. "Marty's pretty cool. He's smart, good looking, all around nice guy."
"Oh yeah?" said Jess smiling yet.
"Yeah." Rory nodded, trying not to laugh as they both leaned in closer. "But personally, I kinda have a thing for his dorm-mate," she said softly, her lips almost touching Jess' own.
"Nice save, Gilmore," he told her just before they kissed.
It was fully five minutes before they came up for air, and even then, it was only so Jess could try to entice Rory into his bedroom. She called upon all her will power and refused him, reluctantly, but for very good reasons.
"I seriously only came for a fix," she told him, claiming one more kiss. "I have so much studying to do if I want to nail these finals, and I know you have just as much to do yourself."
"It can wait," Jess insisted, pulling her close again.
"No, it can't," Rory insisted, even as her resolve began to melt. "Come on, we're busy. It's why Paris is playing both you and me in today's production of The Stars Hollow Show."
"Hey, she is the one who always insists on regular study breaks," he said, kissing her over and over between phrases, "and making the most of the time we have, and she was really happy we got back together, and..."
"Mmm, no more ands," Rory insisted, pulling Jess towards his bedroom.
Maybe they could spare just a little time. After all, they wouldn't be college co-eds together for much longer.
To Be Continued...
