By the time Saturday arrived, Rory and Dean had spent hours on the phone, talking about class and work and friends and movies and music and books and Rory didn't know what all, just that she never wanted the conversations to end, and she couldn't wait to have one face-to-face.
At eleven in the morning, Rory called Lane.
"Help."
"Best friend reporting for duty. What's the emergency?"
"I need you talk me out of taking my homework to Weston's and camping out until 2."
"2 being the time you're supposed to meet Dean. Three hours from now."
"That's the one."
"The words 'desperate' and 'clingy' are coming to mind."
"Yes, but they could be replaced with 'eager' and 'committed,' at which point this whole show up super early endeavor becomes both sweet and logical."
"You want to use 'committed' in reference to a coffee date?"
"A coffee date with Dean."
"You mean Dean your first boyfriend whose heart you broke when you fell in love with another guy while you were still with him and yet he was the one who broke up with you once he realized he'd lost you and you couldn't bring yourself to end it? The Dean who moved on and started dating someone else and was going to marry her, and then called off the wedding the day of just over a month ago, supposedly after a conversation with your mother? This is the Dean we're talking about?"
"OK, OK, I see your point. Wait, what do you mean he called off the wedding after a conversation with my mother?"
"The all-seeing Miss Patty saw Lorelai leaving the church by a side door right before the you-know-what hit the fan."
"Why wouldn't she tell me this?"
"Miss Patty?"
"No, my mom."
"Maybe she didn't think it was any of your business. I mean, she and Dean never stopped being friendly even when you weren't talking to him because the break-up was still raw, so maybe she was doing her 'Lorelai dispenses sage advice to the masses' thing. Like as his friend. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with you."
"Maybe," Rory said skeptically.
"Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh? What uh-oh?"
"You have that voice."
"What voice?"
"Like you've latched onto something and you aren't going to let it go. I shouldn't have mentioned Lorelai maybe talking to Dean. It's all rumor and speculation anyway. I wouldn't . . . you're still thinking about it, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Rory was having trouble concentrating on the conversation. What if Dean had called off the wedding because of her? What had her mom said? It wasn't like Rory had been pining for him. She hadn't been thrilled about him getting married, sure, but that was because he was her friend and statistically speaking people who married that young ended up divorcing, and she didn't want him to have to go through that. That had been all . . . except maybe it hadn't.
"Earth to Rory."
"What? Oh. Sorry, Lane."
"Can we rewind this conversation to the part where I was talking you out of going to Weston's three hours early?"
"Yes."
"Great. So, aside from the clingy desperation factor, there's the question of what you would actually accomplish. Dean is a reasonable human being and he isn't going to show up more than ten minutes early. OK, so you get ten extra minutes, and he figures out that you've been there for a long time, which leads to potentially awkward questions about why you were there so early. You follow?"
"I follow. Your mistake is that you're trying to logic me out of this, when I already know that logic has very little to do with it."
"Well, what does Lorelai say?"
"She's at the inn."
"Worse and worse."
"Help me Lane Kim, you're my only hope!"
"OK. Compromise. I will meet you at Luke's and we will both spend the next two-and-a-half hours pretending to do our homework. Then, at 1:30, when you can't stand it anymore, I will let you go to Weston's. Deal?"
"Deal!"
"Great. See you soon!"
Lane's strategy didn't quite go as planned, because they'd only just gotten settled at a table when Rory's phone went off. Luke glared and pointed to his sign, and Rory scurried outside as she answered. "Dean?"
"Hey."
"Is everything OK?"
"Yeah, except that I cannot for the life of me concentrate on my homework. What about you? What are you up to?"
"I'm at Luke's with Lane. We were both going to pretend to do our homework for a while. You could come pretend with us, if you want."
"I'd like that. You're sure it's OK with Lane?"
"I'll check." She went back inside and ignored Luke's glare at her still-in-use phone as only a Gilmore could. She covered the receiver as she reached her table. "Is it OK if Dean joins us?" Lane buried her head in her hands in exasperation. "La-ane!" Lane nodded into her hands. "I love you!" Rory uncovered the receiver. "Lane says it's fine."
"Great. See you soon."
It wasn't until Dean came in, grinning, that Rory realized just how much she'd missed his smile; she felt an answering one light up her face. "Hey."
"Hey."
"Oh my god," Lane said, dropping her face into her arms as Dean came and sat next to Rory.
"What?" Dean asked.
"You two! You're so . . . how are you like this when you're not even a couple? I mean I know you have a date later, but come on. There are practically rainbows coming out your butts."
"That's a colorful way of putting it," Dean said, looking bemused.
"Yeah, well, shoe, fits, wear."
"OK, OK, you've made your point," Rory cut in. "We will attempt to tone down the cute factor until later."
"Thank you."
Dean and Rory grinned at each other.
"That is not toning it down!"
They were interrupted by Luke, who came over, looking surlier than usual. "What'll you have?"
"Just coffee for now," Rory said.
"Same," said Lane.
"Yeah, just coffee," Dean murmured, not making eye contact with Luke.
"Coming right up," Luke said, and stormed off to yell at Kirk, who was marking up his menu with a Sharpie.
"What was that about?" Rory asked Dean.
"Oh, uh, it's kind of embarrassing," he told her sheepishly.
"And since when have you not been able to tell us your embarrassing stories?" Lane asked in an insulted tone.
"Fine. At my . . . bachelor party, I got pretty drunk, and we ended up here, and Luke let me crash upstairs when it became clear that I'd done all the partying that was good for me. And, uh, I think I said some stuff in my drunken state. And it's not like I was ever Luke's favorite person to begin with, so having that whole thing on top of it, especially since I ended up calling off the wedding, just makes everything a little awkward. I'm hoping it'll blow over eventually."
"I'm sure it will," Rory reassured him.
"So," Dean said, brightening, "how have you been?"
"Since we talked yesterday?" Rory asked, smiling.
"Oh my god." Lane said.
Rory and Dean turned to her.
"If you two don't stop . . . this . . . I'm just going to take my things and go home and actually do my homework! I'm not kidding!"
They were still laughing when Luke brought Dean's coffee.
"Thanks, Luke."
Luke grunted and went to confiscate the second Sharpie that Kirk had produced after Luke took the first one.
"OK, then," Dean said. "Lane, why don't you tell us what's going on around town."
"Much better," she said, and launched into the minutiae of Stars Hollow happenings. The subject got them all through their coffee, deciding what to order for lunch, and right up until their food arrived. Then, while they ate, they swapped stories about the cafeteria food at their respective schools, Rory and Dean comparing it negatively to the fare they got when at home, Lane doing the opposite, and explaining about her various methods for smuggling school food home to supplement her mother's ultra-healthy, ultra-bland cooking.
When Luke came to clear their plates, he commented on their unopened books. "Silly Luke," said Rory. "No self-respecting college student does homework on a Saturday if there's any possible excuse to avoid it."
"Then why bring your stuff?"
"It's all about the veneer of responsibility. And plausible deniability."
"Of course. Should've known."
He turned, very deliberately, to Dean. "So, is that actually true of all students, or is this you and Lane going along with Gilmore weirdness again?"
"Believe it or not, actually true of all students."
"Wonders never cease," Luke said, and took their plates.
"See?" Rory said to Dean. "He's coming around."
"Yeah, I guess so. So, what homework did you two bring to not do?"
By the time they'd finished comparing homework loads, it was 1:30.
"OK. You two have actually lasted an impressively long time, so this is me officially giving you permission to head over to Weston's and commence the date portion of the day," Lane said when the conversation reached a lull.
"You sure?" asked Rory.
"Positive."
"Have I mentioned recently that you're the best best friend ever?"
"No."
"Well, you're the best best friend ever."
"I know. And one of these days I'm going to make you write that sentence one hundred times and put it in a fancy frame for me to keep forever."
"Will do!" said Rory, grinning, as she packed up her things while Dean did the same.
"Thanks, Lane," he said, following Rory out the door.
Without thinking about it, they reached out and took each others' hands, froze, looked down at their entwined hands, then at each other. Rory raised her eyebrows and shrugged questioningly. Dean smiled shyly and shrugged back, and they crossed the street hand-in-hand.
Inside Luke's, Lane, who had seen the whole thing, shook her head in fond exasperation.