Lorelai, Anna, and Rory were walking through the town center that was decorated for fall. "One of us has to do laundry tonight," Lorelai told them.
"Why?" Anna asks
"Because I haven't had any clean underwear for three days," She confessed.
"So right now under your skirt, you're wearing...?" Rory asked, even though she didn't want the answer.
"Not underwear." She leans in to whisper to them.
"Mom!" Her daughters screech in horror.
"It's kind of nice, breezy." She teases.
"My role model, ladies, and gentlemen," Rory sighs.
"How come you haven't run out yet?" She looks between them.
"I have more underwear than you." Anna lied.
Lorelai turns to Rory. "I don't know. I guess I have more underwear than you too." She shrugs her shoulders.
"Wait, that's not true. You both have less. Have you been doing laundry without me?" She glares at her eldest, knowing she was the more responsible of the two.
"No." She shook her head.
"Rory?" She pushed on.
"OK, one load." She put up one finger.
"And you didn't even ask if I had stuff to throw in?" Lorelai scoffs and throws her arms out.
"We had to wash our uniforms and underwear, it was a big load. There wasn't any room." Rory defends them.
"I'm crushed. I'm bleeding. Get me a tourniquet. Oh, no, they're dirty 'cause Rory wouldn't wash them with her stuff." Lorelai put on a dramatic one-woman show, as she pretends to die without dropping to the floor.
"I'm sorry. I'll do another load tonight, I promise." She apologized, knowing that her mom could go on all day.
"Never mind, I'll do my own laundry." Lorelai let out a tired sigh.
"Fine, even better," Anna said, despite the fact that Rory did her laundry.
"I hate doing laundry. Maybe I'll just buy new underwear." Lorelai groans.
They walk past Miss Patty leading her dance class in a rehearsal for the Thanksgiving dance. "I still can't believe she wouldn't let me be a pumpkin," Anna whines about her childhood.
"You were a pilgrim, it was a better part," Rory told her like she did every November.
"No one likes pilgrims. They led the trail of tears. People like pumpkins. You can carve them, bake them, and eat them." She lists as they walk into Luke's. They took a seat at the counter and watched as Taylor Doose chased around Luke.
"Every other store in town has fall decorations." Taylor hovers over Luke as he gives people their orders.
"Hoorah for the mob mentality," Luke sarcastically cheers as he moves to go behind the counter.
"We're talking a few streamers and a paper turkey. How's it going to hurt to have a paper turkey?" Taylor follows the man.
"No turkey, no squash, no pumpkins. Nothing colored orange." Luke listed the things that he wouldn't hang up in the diner. Anna puts a hand over her heart at the word pumpkin and her mom rubs her back.
"OK, you don't like orange. That's fine. Autumn has many varied hues to toy with." Taylor was trying his hardest to find common ground with the other man.
"Excuse me. Can we get some coffee, please?" Lorelai yells from the end of the counter.
"And a muffin," Rory adds on.
"Warmed?" Anna figures she should try to help her boss escape the man.
"This is the Autumn Festival. Your place is right across the street from the Horn of Plenty! You're right smack dab in the middle of everything. You have to decorate." Taylor points out the window where you could the town center where the festival would take place.
"I don't have to do anything but serve food." Luke slams his hand down on the counter.
"And coffee," Lorelai yells.
"And muffins!" Rory points at the muffin dome case.
"Taylor, I'm tired of having this conversation with you every year." Luke sighs, every year it was the same thing. Taylor would come in begging, nagging, demanding and Luke would say no. The man would glare at him for the rest of the month.
"Yoo-hoo!" Anna whistled when she saw the time. They need to get their coffee soon or they would miss their bus.
"You have lived in Stars Hollow for a long time, young man. It's time you became one of us." Taylor points a finger in his face.
"Whoa!" Lorelai waves money around to try to get Luke's attention.
"Sorry, I guess my pod's defective." Luke pushes Taylor's hand down.
"Hey. My mom's not wearing any underwear." Rory screams for the whole diner to hear. Lorelai gasps and glares at her daughter. Anna barked out a laugh. "Well, you aren't." She said to her mother's angry eyes.
The two arguing men didn't even glance at the attractive woman not wearing anything under her skirt. "You're just being selfish, Luke." Taylor crosses his arms over his chest.
"Still they don't notice. I can't take it anymore." Lorelai got up and went behind the counter.
"We're talking about the spirit of fall." He was about to start his whole speech over again.
Lorelai picks up a coffee pot and pours it into her to-go cup. "What kind of muffin do you want?" She lifts the cover off the muffins.
"Blueberry," They smiled.
"You know where you can stick the spirit of fall?" Luke glares at Taylor before turning to give Lorelai a kitchen thong. "Here, don't use your hands."
"I don't think you're taking me seriously." Taylor watches the man walk over to the register. The Gilmore girls with their coffee cups and muffins walk to the door.
"What gave you that idea?" He picks up the money that Lorelai left on the counter. "No tip?" He asked when he saw it was the exact amount.
"Oh, yeah, here's a tip... serve your customers." She turns around to yell at him.
"Here's another, don't sit on any cold benches." He shot right back at her. Rory opens the door for her mother and snickering sister. The girls went to school while their mother went to work.
The girls got off the bus from Hartford. Anna noticed Rory staring into Doose's when they passed it. "Didn't you say that you need something from Doose's?" She asked.
"I did? Oh yeah, I did. I'll meet you at Lane's." Rory ran into the grocery store before she even got a response from her sister.
Anna walks to Kim's Antique, humming Rory and Dean sitting in a tree. "Lane." She found her friend in a white apron with a rag in her hand dusting furniture.
"Where's Rory?" She looks around the corner for her missing friend.
"Well, hello to you too?" Anna picks up a rag to help.
"I'm sorry. Hello Anna, where is Rory?" She went back to dusting.
"She's at Doose's," Anna told her.
"She has been grocery shopping a lot." Lane couldn't figure out what her friend was up to.
"She is hungry a lot." Anna shrugs. "I can see why your mom is always looking to sell a lot. She doesn't want them here long enough to collect dust." She moves to wipe down the next chair.
"That and to pay the bills." Lane respects the way her mom could sell items without kissing the customer's ass.
"Lane? Lane?" Rory came running in.
"What's wrong?" Lane walks out from behind the pile of furniture to check on her.
"I got kissed! And I shoplifted." She held a box of cornstarch in the air.
"Are you serious?" Anna ran over when she heard the news.
"Who kissed you?" Lane asks.
"Dean," Rory said.
"The new kid," Lane gasps.
"Yes." Rory beams.
"You got the new kid? Oh my God," Lane smiled at her.
"It happened so fast. I was just standing there…" Rory began to tell the story.
"Where," Lane asked, wanting the full picture.
"Doose's Market," Rory told her.
Lane shot a look over at Anna that said this why she was going grocery shopping before turning back to Rory. "He kissed you in the market?"
"On aisle three," Rory put up three fingers.
"By the pest spray," Anna made a face. She didn't want to smell Raid while she was making out.
"Yes." She nods.
"Oh, that's a good aisle." Lane nods in approval.
"What defines a good aisle?" Rory laughs.
"An aisle where you get kissed by the new kid is a good aisle," Lane told her.
"Oh my God, I can't breathe." Rory tried to take a deep breath but found that she couldn't. Anna moves to rub her back.
"OK, sit down." Lane took down a stool for her to sit.
"No, I can't sit down. I'm too... Oh my God, He kissed me!" Rory smiled the feeling of not being about to breathe didn't bother her as much when she thought about the kiss.
Mrs. Kim came up from behind them and asked, "Who kissed you?" Anna jumps from the fright.
"The Lord, Mama," Lane saves them from Mrs. Kim throws Rory out on the street.
"Oh, OK then." She said, but the way she eyes Rory said she didn't believe them. She slowly walked away from them.
"So? Tell me everything." Lane pushed for more information when her mom was out of sight.
"So I go into the store and he offers me a soda. And then he puts two behind his back and he asks me to pick one and then he kisses me." Rory gave them the story.
"I'm so jealous! That's it. I've got to get some dumb, ugly friends." She looked between her two friends that had exciting love lives.
"I have to go tell my mom." She runs to the door. Anna was right behind her.
"Call me later," Lane yells at them.
"Okay!" Rory promised. She stopped before they made it out of the room, making Anna almost run into her back.
"What's wrong?" Anna took a step back.
"I can't." Rory turns around to face them.
"You can't leave? It's sing your favorite hymn night at the Kim house. Make a run for it." Lane points to the door.
"My mom doesn't know about Dean," Rory said.
"So tell her." Lane and Anna shouted.
"The last time the subject of boys came up it got very ugly." She points out the biggest fight that her mom and she ever had. Anna shivers remembered how tense the house was during that fight.
"Well, that was different. She thought you were going to quit school over a guy." Lane argued that the situation was different now.
"Yes, over Dean." Rory waves her cornstarch around.
"OK, fine, but she doesn't have to know it was him." Lane said.
"She'll know." Anna scoffs. It wasn't like Rory took an interest in a lot of guys, Dean was the first one.
"How," Lane asks.
"She's Lorelai, she'll know. What do I do?" Rory looked at a loss as to what to do.
"Well, maybe she'll be more open to the concept now that you're in school and doing well and everything." Lane put the rag she had been holding in her apron pocket.
"Maybe," Rory taps her fingers along the side of the cornstarch.
"Try it." Anna put a hand on her shoulder.
"OK. I got to go." She nods her head.
The sisters moved closer to the door when Lane called out. "Hey." They turn back around to see what their best friend wanted. "Was it great?"
"It was perfect." Rory smiled.
"Wow." Lane smiles back.
"Yeah," Rory said before they walked out the door.
Rory and Anna walked into the kitchen. They found their mom sitting in front of the empty broken fridge surrounded by the things that were in there. Lorelai was on the phone with the repair company. The girls walk to their rooms and put their things away. Anna came back with the homework she needed to do and put it on the kitchen table. She sat next to Rory who was already doing her homework. "Great, goodbye," Lorelai hung up the phone.
"So are they coming tomorrow?" Rory looks up from her books to ask about the repairman.
"Nope, Monday, between three and eight, I am completely useless," Lorelai growls out in frustration.
"Sorry." Anna and Rory gave her their sympathy.
"Oh my God, Look at this place. It's a sty! Now I'm crabby. I'm crabby and useless. Stupid fridge! Stupid fridge guys! I hate my life." She stood up to kick the fridge before storming out of there.
"A kiss would cheer her up." Anna got up to put the things that didn't need to be in the fridge like ketchup, hot sauce, and potatoes in the cabinets. She put the other things that did on the counter to try and figure out what to make, so they wouldn't go to waste.
"Then why don't you give her one," Rory asks.
"Alright, I get it. You don't know if it'll just make her more upset." Anna put her hands up in defeat.
Anna, Lane, and Rory were running a canned goods drive, dressed as Pilgrims. "OK, just one more time." Lane turns to Rory.
"I've been telling you this story for an hour. It doesn't get dirty." Rory shook her head with a smile.
"I can't help it. I'm obsessed. I'm living vicariously through you." She admits with little to no shame.
"Why not live vicariously through Anna? It would be more exciting." She pointed to her sister who was in an actual relationship.
"Even vicariously, I'm not ready for the things Anna and Tristan are doing." Lane shook her head. Anna stuck her tongue out at her.
"Why do you have to live vicariously anyways? You got kissed last weekend. Remember? You told me. That guy your parents set you up with, the one with the Lincoln Continental. What's his name? Patrick Cho!" Rory said his name with excitement when she remembered it.
"OK, let's do a little compare and contrast here. You get kissed on the mouth by a cute, cool, sexy guy you really like. And I get kissed on the forehead by a theology major in a Members-Only jacket who truly believes that rock music leads to hard drugs." Lane played with the pen in her hand.
"Fair enough, you can live through me. But just remember that I have no idea what I'm doing." Rory reminds her.
"I'm well aware of that. That's why I've been diligently gathering information for us." Lane said, making Rory and Anna lean in closer.
"What kind of information?" Rory asks.
"Well, let's see. Dean's from Chicago, which you know." Lane started with the basics.
"I do." She nods.
"He likes Nick Drake, Liz Phair, and the Sugarplastic. He's deathly allergic to walnuts." Lane remembers all the information that she got.
"Walnuts are bad, got it." Rory would remember that for dates.
"Now, he had a girlfriend in Chicago." Lane gave the bad news.
"A girlfriend," Rory wondered if they were still together or not.
"Her name's Beth and they went out for about a year but they split amicably before he left and now she's dating his cousin, which he doesn't feel too weird about because he doesn't think they were really in love." Lane got all the information she could on that.
"Beth." Anna spat out.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Lane told her friends that were in deep thought.
"How'd you get all this information?" Rory looks over at Lane. She wasn't in with the popular gossiping crowd.
"Through his best friend, who, by the way, is really cool, so once you get settled with Dean, do you think you could ask him about Todd?" Lane grips the pen tightly.
"Lane, you sly dog," Anna bumps shoulders with her.
"Oh absolutely, so Beth, huh, I hate the name, Beth. It's so...Beth." Rory pulls a face at the thought of Dean being with another girl.
"Now, Todd also said that Dean hasn't been able to talk about anything but you for weeks!" Lane said, making the three girls giggle. Rory leans over to kiss Lane on the forehead. "Stop it you're giving me Patrick Cho flashbacks." They cracked with more laughter.
A familiar gray Porsche pulled up in front of them. "Seriously," Anna sighs and gets up from the table. She walked over to meet her boyfriend when he got out of the car. "Didn't I tell you I wasn't available today, Malfoy." She crossed her arms over her chest. He laughed at the sight of her in the costume. "Tristan," She stumps her foot.
"You said you were running a canned food drive. So I brought some. I didn't know that you would be dressed up for it." He said through his chuckles.
Anna looked in the backseat to see that he had grocery bags there. "Alright, bring them out." She turns to go back to the table.
"Wait!" He grabbed her hand. "Do a little spin for me?" He left her arm up to spin her like he did the night of Rory's birthday party.
"Piss off, Malfoy." She pulled her hand from his and walked back to the table where her giggling friend and sister were. "Why are two laughing we are all wearing the same dumb outfit?" She pulls off her bonnet.
Tristan put the grocery bags on the table. "Hello Rory, Lane." He nodded to the two girls, the latter he met when he got his tour of the town. They gave him a hello back before writing down his donations. "So, how much does your father want for you? A cow, chicken and a pig," He winks at Anna.
She threw her pen at his smirking face. "Go get us pizza."
"Only if you give me a twirl," He bit his bottom lip. She glared but got up and twirls around. "I know you like pepperoni and mushroom, but everyone else." He turned to the other two girls. They gave him their orders before he got back in his car to get it.
"I'm going to run to Luke's. I'll tell mom that we can't make it for lunch. I'll be right back." Rory ran across the street.
"OK, we have to be quick, 'cause the video store is going to close, so stick to our list. No impulse buying like toothpaste or soap." Lorelai reminds her daughter outside of Doose's. They were having a movie night. If they didn't keep to their schedule then they wouldn't get through the movie they wanted to watch.
Anna and Lorelai walk to the door while Rory stood on the side. "Come on, Rory." Anna waves for her sister to hurry up.
"Hey, you know what I think we have enough stuff to eat at home." Rory took another step away from the grocery store.
"Really...where do you live? Cause the home I left this morning had nothing." Lorelai put her hands on her hips.
"Well, we're ordering pizza. That's enough." Rory tried to weasel her way out.
"Are you crazy? You can't watch Willy Wonka without massive amounts of junk food! It's not right. I won't allow it. We're going in." Anna went into the grocery store. She picked up a basket and waited for the rest of her family to come in.
"Rory, it's fine," Lorelai assured her.
"It's too weird." Rory shook her head.
"I'm going to have to meet him eventually." She told her.
"Okay, how about next year," Rory suggested.
"I'm going to be so cool in there you will mistake me for Shaft." She smiled at her.
"There will be no interrogation," Rory demands.
"I swear." Lorelai nods.
"No kissing noises. No stories from my childhood. No referring to Chicago as Chitown. No James Dean jokes. No father with a shotgun stare. No Nancy Walker impressions." She set the rules.
"Oh come on!" Lorelai whined. She was taking her best material.
"Promise me." Rory needs to hear her say it.
"I really and truly promise. Now can we please go to the market?" She sighs at how stressed her daughter is.
Rory took a deep breath before saying. "OK. Let's go."
They walked inside and Rory stopped to look around. "I don't see him."
"Alright, well maybe he's on a break," Lorelai told her.
"Who's on a break?" Anna walks over to them.
"The boy Rory kissed?" Lorelai said, making Rory hush her.
"Oh, you know about him?" Anna went on a date with Tristan last night and missed the conversation between her sister and mother about Dean.
"I think he's on a break." Rory gave the all-clear after she looked around again.
"OK, good. So... we can shop." Anna wanted to at least hear all the Oompa Loompa songs tonight.
"Yep," Rory nodded. They walk over to the junk food aisle. "Do we want marshmallows?"
Lorelai nods and grabs a bag to put in the basket Anna was holding. "Mmm...And jelly beans and chocolate kisses. Cookie dough we have at home. Peanut butter. Ooh, do you think they have that thing that's like a sugar stick on one side but then you dip it in the sugar on the other side then you eat it?"
"Fun Dip, yeah, they have it." Anna grabs a few of them from the shelf and puts it into the basket.
"We are going to be so sick. It's amazing that we still function…. There he is." Rory pointed at Dean who was bagging people's groceries at the register.
"Boy, he's tall. That must have been some back-bender, that kiss," Lorelai looked over at the tall teen.
"Mom!" Rory gaps while Anna giggles.
"Make sure you warm up next time." She teases.
"OK, we are leaving now." Rory grabbed her arm to pull her out of the store.
"Sorry, done now. He's got great eyes! You got to love a guy with great eyes." She whispers to them.
"Yeah," Rory nods. They walk over to stand in line, where Dean was bagging.
"And a nice smile," Lorelai looked at the Dean that had a smile on since they spotted him.
"And nice hair," Anne adds on.
"Very nice," Rory agrees with them.
"Think we can get him to turn around?" Lorelai was asking about the butt.
"It's nice too." Rory nods to them.
"Really," Anna and Lorelai smile.
"Trust me." Rory winks.
"Hey, you girls having another movie night," The cashier looks at all the junk food.
"Yeah...It's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Lorelai told her.
"Oh, that's nice. Isn't that the one with Gene Hackman?" She asks.
"Uh, Gene Wilder," Dean corrected her.
"You're a Wonka fan?" Lorelai took the opportunity to speak to him.
"Yeah," Dean nods.
"Um, Dean, this is my mom, Lorelai. Mom, this is Dean." Rory introduces them.
"Nice to meet you, Dean," She stuck out her hand for him to shake.
"Yeah, you too," He shook it.
"Nice apron." She complimented him.
"Um...thanks." He looked down at the Doose's apron he had to wear.
"Forty-one eighty-three," The cashier told her.
"Oh, wow. It's expensive to slowly rot your insides isn't it?" She took the money out of her back pocket. "Here you go." She hands her the money.
Rory was quick to take the bag from Dean. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He smiles at her.
"So Dean, nice meeting you, hopes to see you again." Lorelai went over to them.
Another employee called him over. "It is nice." Anna turns her head sideways as she stares at his butt as he walks away.
"See that wasn't so bad," Lorelai whispers to Rory.
"You're right." She nods.
"I said nothing embarrassing, nothing stupid." She points out that she kept her promise.
"Except for that's a nice apron." Anna giggles.
"I appreciate that," Rory said, knowing that it could have been a lot worse.
"So chill out, Supermarket Slut," Lorelai teases as she pulls them over to the door.
"See, even a little information in your hands is dangerous." She made her two fingers almost touch to show how much her mother needed to be a jerk. Lorelai held open the door for them as they walked out.
"I need coffee." Lorelai smiles at them.
"Mom, the video store closes in ten minutes." Anna reminds her that they were on a tight schedule.
"Well, you two run to the video store and I'll go get coffee." She took the bag from Rory.
"Fine," Her daughter took off running down the street.
"I always say we should go to the video store first. Doose's is open later than the video store." Anna groans as she does the thing she hates the most, runs.
Anna and Rory turn the corner to get to Luke's to see their mom waiting for them. "So?" Their mother asks.
"Got it," Rory held up the plastic bag that had the DVD inside.
"Score, you know, on the one hand, I'm glad it was in but on the other hand what kind of world do we live in where no one has rented Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?" Lorelai said as they began to walk back to their house.
"Well, we rented it." Anna gestures to them.
"Well, thank God for us. Oh, hey, I invited your friend." She turns to Rory.
"What friend?" Rory asks. If it was Lane, she would say Lane. She didn't know who else it could be.
"Dean," Lorelai said.
"What?" Anna and Rory yelled. Ann was from shock and Rory was from outrage.
"Yeah, I told him what we were doing tonight and he was totally into it, so... Why are you looking at me like that?" She had a smile on until she saw Rory's face.
"You invited Dean to our house?" Rory asks slowly hoping she heard wrong.
"Yes." She nods.
"Are you crazy?" Rory yells.
"Why are you mad?" Lorelai looked confused by the aggression she was receiving.
"Because, we haven't even been out on a date by ourselves yet, my first date with Dean is going to be with my mother? Are... What is wrong with you?" Rory glares at her. Anna was feeling second-hand embarrassment for her.
"I'm sorry. I thought you would be happy about this." Lorelai apologized.
"In what universe would I be happy? This isn't Amish country. Girls and boys usually date alone." Rory reminds her.
"I don't think of it as a date. I thought of it more like a hanging out kind of session." She defends herself.
"Well, I don't want our first hanging out session to be with my mother either." Rory spits out the word mother.
"Stop saying mother like that," Lorelai demands.
"Like what?" Rory asks.
"Like there's supposed to be another word after it." She gave Rory a pointed look. Anna mouths the slur word her mother was talking about over Lorelai's shoulder, so only Rory could see her.
"I can't believe you did this. I'm so humiliated." Rory hangs her head. She walked past them, wanting to go home and tidy up a bit if he was going to come over.
"You're overreacting. I invited him to a movie and pizza, not to Niagara Falls." Lorelai said to her back.
"He's the boy that I like." She turns around to tell her.
"I know. I looked for one that you hated but it was really short notice." Lorelai sighs.
"And now he's forced to come over and sit with me, my sister, and my mother and eat crap and watch a movie?" She couldn't even begin to think what Dean was thinking about her right now.
"Well, I just invited a friend of yours to hang out. What's the big deal? I mean what if Lane had done it?" Their mom tried to get Rory to see it from her point of view.
"You're not Lane. You're my mother. You inviting him over is like Grandma inviting a guy you liked over." She tries to get her mom to grasp the concept.
"You're comparing me to my mother?" Lorelai gasps, now being the one to feel horrible.
"No, I just..." Rory sighs when she realizes she was going to turn this on her.
"I'm Emily Gilmore? My God, how the mighty have fallen." She looks at the ground.
"I didn't mean that," Rory said. If she was a lesser person she would have been fine with her mother feeling bad after what she did to her.
"I wasn't trying to humiliate you." Lorelai had good intentions.
"I know." Rory nods.
"If I was Emily Gilmore I'd be trying to humiliate you." She explains the difference between her and her mother.
"I just..." Rory sighs, still unhappy with the situation.
"Look, I'm sorry, OK? I screwed up. I was trying to... Look, I'll go, I'll uninvite him. I'll tell him that it's canceled on account of... I just found out I'm my mother and I have to go into intensive therapy right now." Lorelai looks over at Doose's.
"No, you can't uninvite him. He'll think I wigged out or something." Rory shook her head.
"Well, then Anna and I will just disappear and you guys can be alone." Lorelai offers.
"And have it looks like my mom arranged a date for me? No!" Rory shook her head that would be even sadder.
"What do we do?" Lorelai was at a loss.
Rory thought for a second before turning to Anna. "You have to invite Tristan."
"What?" She asks her sister.
"That way it looks like a big hang out and not some weird test he has to pass to date me." Rory insisted.
"Yes, invite Tristan. I want to meet him." Lorelai put her hands together like she was praying. She missed meeting him when Anna gave him a tour of the town, at the bake fair, at Rory's party, and earlier yesterday when she was stalking Dean. This way she couldn't miss him.
"Fine," She grabs the cell phone from her back pocket to call him.
Anna looks herself over in the mirror. One of the hardest looks to pull off was a casual effortless look. The kind of look that says, I'm spending the night at home but I still look tempting. She was pulling it off with her black hoodie that from the shoulder to the collar bone was sheer with black hearts. She had on black cut off jean shorts with black knee-high socks that had three white rings on the top. She had on her trusty black and white converse. Her hair was in a half up half down look with a large black scrunchie. She only had on lip gloss and mascara.
She walks out to help her mom fill the coffee table with junk food. Rory came out when they were done. They sat on the couch waiting for the males to show up.
"What time did you tell him to get here?" Rory asks her mother.
"Seven," Lorelai told her.
"Maybe something happened. Maybe he's not coming." She worried. Anna looked at the clock wondering where Tristan was. He was almost annoying on time lately. She knew it was because he hated being at home when his dad was. It was weird to see how much he was looking forward to his dad's next business trip.
"Maybe he's just late, Miss German train." Lorelai got up to look out the window. "Oops." She gasped.
"What?" Her daughters got up to look at the window. Dean and Tristan were standing on the lawn next door talking to Babette with Morey leaning out the window. Being that they already meet Tristan, most of the attention was on Dean.
"They've got Dean." Rory sighs. Babette had a tight hold on the teen's arm.
"Wait here." Lorelai ran out. The girls watched from the window as their mom ran over and gave the teens a getaway.
Tristan came in and kissed her. "I think I have some competition in being your crazy neighbor's favorite."
"Babette, her name is Babette." She corrected him. "Tristan, this is Dean. Dean, this is Tristan." She introduced them.
"Yeah, I know Babette introduced us," Dean said before moving over to Rory. "I'm sorry I'm late. I got here like a half-hour ago." He looked down at her.
"We believe you," Rory told him.
"We'd believe you if you said you got here three hours ago." Lorelai walks back in. They stood there not knowing what to say.
"So, this is Dean, the guys that have been chasing Rory around?" Tristan whispers to Anna.
"He has not been chasing, but yes." She whispers back.
"I thought he would be smoother." He watched the boy who was twitching under Lorelai's gaze.
"Let's see, how do you do? Mom, this is Tristan, my boyfriend." She took the pressure off of Dean.
"Oh yes, the boy that made me put my daughter on birth control." She smiles wickedly, having been given the green light from Anna to give him a hard time.
"I mean, we haven't gone that far yet. But, it's nice to know when we do there won't be a need for condoms." He let out a nervous laugh. Everyone looks at him with wide eyes. "Sorry... Bad joke. I can assure you that everything is at her pace. She controls everything, that's why I call her Bobcat." He pats Anna's head.
"So, you think of her as an exotic pet." Lorelai tilts her head to the side. Dean was feeling better. There was no way he could look as bad as this guy.
"No, it's just a nickname. She calls me Malfoy." He shook his head. He could already hear Anna tell him that they have to break up. He knew he was avoiding this woman for a reason.
"So, Dean, how do you like it here in Stars Hollow?" Anna put the pressure back on Dean.
"I like it. It's quiet but nice. I like all the trees everywhere." He told them.
"Yeah, the trees are something. When Rory was little, she found out that one was called a Weeping Willow so she spent hours trying to cheer it up. You know, like telling it jokes and…." She stopped when Rory was shaking her head at her. "No, I'm sorry that was me... Would you guys like a tour of the house?" She asks.
"Okay." The boys nod their heads.
"Okay. So this is the living room where we do our living and, um, upstairs is my room, Anna's room, and the good bathroom. And the...kitchen is right through here. Have you ever heard of a fridge yodel before?" She put down the baby picture of her daughters and pointed to the kitchen.
Dean walked ahead of them. "Thank you," Rory mouthed. Tristan picks up the picture and covers his mouth to stop from laughing. Anna grabs the picture and puts it back face down before smacking him in the arm.
"You're welcome," Lorelai whispers back. The rest of them walk into the kitchen. "Well, you have your basics: microwave for popcorn, stove for storing shoes, refrigerator, which is completely worthless." She pointed to all the things they had.
"Interesting," He nods.
The doorbell rang. "Oh, I'll get that. Rory, Anna, you take over as tour guides. Make sure and show them the emergency exits." She walked out to get the pizza.
"I'm doing horrible." Tristan sighs.
"Yeah, you are." Anna laughs.
"Where are they going?" He nodded his head towards the other couple going into a room that was connected to the kitchen.
"That's Rory's room." She told him.
"Where's yours?" He asks. She grabbed his hand and led him upstairs. She opened her door and he went in first. "I expected more color." He looked around the room. The walls were blue. All the furniture was white except for the black bed frame. There were a gray rug and black curtains. Even the phases of the moon she had hung up above her bed were black and white. The cute yellow mouse alarm clock stuck out like a sore thumb.
"I like it. It gives it a clean look." Anna walks in. She thought about putting posters everywhere like Rory had but something about the simple look appealed to her.
"Who is this?" He picked up her blue plush unicorn.
"That's Chance Sassy Shadow. It's the name of all the animals in Homeward Bound. " She explains to him.
"I think I'll give you a picture of me to put on your desk." He put down the doll to sit on her spinning chair.
"That oh so gracious of you." She rolled her eyes. She heard her mom yell up the stairs that pizza was here. "Come on." She grabs his hand to drag him back to the living room.
They were sitting on the floor in front of the TV as they ate popcorn. "Who needs more?" Lorelai looks down at the empty bowl.
"I do." Rory raises her hand.
"Wow. You can eat." Dean looked at her in surprise.
"Yes, I can…. Oh that's bad isn't it?" Rory asks. Everyone, even Tristan looked over to see if he would give the right answer.
"No, uh, most girls don't eat. It's good you eat." Dean told her. They look back at the TV making Dean sighs in relief.
"I'm all for it," Lorelai said.
"Let's talk about something besides my eating habits, shall we?" Rory wants the attention off of her.
"Oh... Oompa Loompas!" Lorelai cheered when they came on screen.
"My mom has a thing for the Oompa Loompas," Rory told Dean and Tristan.
"I don't think finding them amusing constitutes a thing." She defends herself.
"No, but having a recurring dream about marrying one does," Anna teases.
"Don't even get me started on your Prince Charming crush, OK? At least my obsessions are alive. You have a thing for a cartoon. And, your crush on the boy from sandlot, I had to watch that movie every day for a year." She points at Rory and then Anna.
"Ooh, Prince Charming, huh?" Dean asks.
"It was a long time ago and not the Cinderella one, the Sleeping Beauty one." Rory clarified.
"'Cause he could dance," He said. When he saw the looking he was getting he explained the reason he knew, "I've got sisters."
"Which guy from the sandlot?" Tristan smirks at her.
"Benny 'the Jet' Rodriguez, he's handsome, the leader, and he's nice. He was the only reason they let Smalls play." She defends her first crush.
"Should I get a blue LA hat?" He laughs.
"Only if you can get the PF Flyers," She rolls her eyes.
"So, come on, Dean, tell us some of your embarrassing secrets." Lorelai changed the subject before she found out about some weird role-play kink.
"I have no embarrassing secrets." He shook his head.
"Oh, please. Either you're lying or you're incredibly boring." Anna narrows her eyes at him.
"I bet I know one," Rory smiles.
"What?" He asks.
"The theme from Ice Castles makes you cry." She guessed.
"Oh, that's a good one." Lorelai agrees.
"That's not true." Dean felt the need to clear that up.
"Oh, I've got one. At the end of The Way We Were, you wanted Robert Redford to dump his wife and kid for Barbra Streisand." Lorelai took a guess.
"I've never seen The Way We Were," Dean told them.
"Are you kidding?" Rory gasps.
"What are you waiting for? Heartache, laughter..." Lorelai lists the reason to watch the movie.
"Communism," Anna adds on.
"All in one neat package," Lorelai said.
"I'll have to experience that sometime." Dean put it on his list of things to do.
"Next movie night," Lorelai offers.
"It's a plan." Rory nods.
"What about you, Tristan." Lorelai turns to him.
"I'm down for another movie night." He nods, the night was terrifying in the beginning but he was having fun now.
"She was talking about any embarrassing secrets." Anna put her hand on his shoulder.
"There was this one time a crazy girl waved her fist in my face calling me Draco Malfoy." He wraps an arm around her waist.
"I think she sounds delightful." She winks at him.
"I'll get the popcorn." Lorelai got up.
"Bring in the spray cheese," Rory yells at her.
"And the cookie dough," Anna yells. Lorelai gave a thumbs up before walking into the kitchen.
"Bobcat, you already ate half of the tube," Tristan told her.
"So?" She shrugs.
"You're going to get sick." He shook his head at his stubborn girlfriend.
"So, uh, at what point does the outsider get to suggest a movie for movie night?" Dean asks.
"That depends. What movie are you thinking of," Rory smiles.
"I don't know...Boogie Nights, maybe." He suggested making the girls giggle.
"You'll never get that past Lorelai." Rory shook her head.
"Not a Marky Mark fan?" He thought of the reason most people didn't like it.
"She had a bad reaction to Magnolia. She sat there screaming for three hours 'I want my life back!' and then we got kicked out of the theater. It was a pretty entertaining day." Rory told him.
"I guess I'll have to come up with a different movie then." Dean never took his eyes off her even when Anna squealed in excitement. Tristan put a hand over her mouth to stop her from ruining the moment.
"I guess you will." Rory shrugs.
Dean put a pillow behind Rory's back when he noticed her squirming around. "Thank you." She stares at him but turns away when he looks at her.
"Stop staring, it's creepy," Tristan whispers in Anna's ear.
"I can't help it. It's a real-life romance unfolding in front of me." She whispers back.
"Hey. I'll be right back." Rory got up and went into the kitchen. The three people remaining in the room turned back to the TV.
"Hi. I'm back. Rory went to wash her face. Anna, why don't you go and help her." Lorelai sat down with a bowl of popcorn.
"She needs help washing her face. What is she five?" She scoffs. After Lorelai gave her a look that said, do as I say, Anna got up to go to the bathroom.
"You alright," She knocked on the door.
"No," Rory opened the door to pull her in.
"What's wrong?" She looked at her sister taking deep breaths.
"How did you do it?" She asked.
"Do what?" Anna rubs her back.
"The way Tristan always looks at you is the way Dean is looking at me now. How do you have someone that you like look at you like that and still be able to talk normally?" Rory's eyes were wild with desperation.
"In the beginning, I thought he was faking it. I heard his reputation of how he had a different girlfriend every week. So, I didn't care what he thought of me. When I realized he was being genuine, we were already at a comfortable place with each other." She explains.
"Why couldn't Dean be a jerk?" Rory sighs.
"Because then you wouldn't have given him the time of day. Look, this nervousness is temporary. Soon his smile, eyes, cologne, and charm won't be overwhelming. You'll still appreciate it but you'll be able to function." She assured her.
"I hope so… we better get out there. I don't want him to think I'm doing number two or something." Rory opens the bathroom door.
"Nothing wrong with that, everyone does it." Anna follows her out.
Lorelai pauses the movie. "Dean, Tristan. I don't know exactly how to say this, but, um, this is a very different kind of household you walked into tonight." She turned to the two boys.
"Yeah, I know." Dean nods.
"See...Rory and Anna are my daughters." She put her hands in her lap.
"Ah...here comes the talk." Tristan had been dreading this since he got off the phone with Anna.
"How about I talk, you listen?" She glared at the blonde before turning her gaze to Dean. "Rory is a smart kid. She's never been much for guys so the fact that she likes you means a lot. I don't believe she'd waste her time with some loser."
"But you're watching me." He saw where this was going. He had a girlfriend before, so this wasn't his first rodeo.
"Sweetheart, the whole town is watching you. That girl in there is beloved around here. You hurt her, there's not a safe place within a hundred miles for you to hide. This is a very small, weird place you've moved to." Lorelai threatens him with a smile.
"I've noticed." He nods.
"So just know all eyes are on you." She told him.
"Anything else," He asks.
"She's not going on your motorcycle." She gave him a final warning.
"I don't have a motorcycle." He told her, thinking that would calm the woman down.
"She's not going on your motorcycle." She repeats.
"Fine, she won't go on my motorcycle." He shrugged, not seeing the big deal since he didn't have one.
"And you, Anna likes to pretend to be this tough bulletproof girl, but she's not. When she does fall, she runs to me. In fact, she always runs to me. She's never been able to lie to me. So know that I meant not to be able to watch you like Dean, but I will still know everything." She turned to Tristan.
"I'm fine with that." He shrugs.
"Anna is more like me than Rory. She thinks with her heart and goes on instinct. That can lead her to trouble. So, don't for a second think you can take advantage of that because I will be there if you do." She glares at the blonde, who nods his head. "Curfew will be enforced. You will not detract from her schoolwork, and you're going to start handling those lemons better." She turns to Dean for the last part.
"What?" He looked more confused about the lemons than the motorcycle.
"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking. I reserve the right to change, alter, tweak, or add to this list of rules at any given time without any written notice. Am I clear?" She looks between her daughter's love interests.
"You're clear." They both nod.
"Good." She picked up the remote.
"My turn to speak," Dean asks.
"Fine, go ahead." She gave him the green light.
"You can lay on all the rules you want and you can have the whole town spy on me and stare at me and chase me through the streets..." He was giving his little speech when Lorelai interrupted him.
"Oh, I like the idea of chasing you through the streets." She smiles at the image she was getting.
"But I just want you to know, I'm not going anywhere." He told her.
"Well it's going to be a short chase then isn't it?" She didn't want him to think that she could be swayed by a little speech.
"I need you not to hate me. If you hate me then I don't have a shot in hell with Rory." Dean begs her.
"Rory has her own mind," Lorelai reassured him.
"Yeah, but you're her best friend and what you think means everything to her and you know that," Dean could see that clearly in one night that Rory, her mother, and sister were closer than any family he's ever seen.
"I want to like you. Cause Rory likes you." She admits.
"But you don't." Dean could see the distrust in her eyes.
She nods before telling him, "I want to and I usually get what I want."
"Fair enough," He knew that was the best answer he was going to get tonight.
"Do you want to say anything?" She turns to Tristan.
"Yeah, I think you got the wrong idea of my relationship with your daughter. Like I said, Bobc...Anna set the pace especially in the physical aspect of our relationship. I know you probably heard about what a jerk I can be." He sighs when Lorelai nods eagerly. "I am trying my best. I never felt this way about a girl before."
"And you have had many girlfriends." Lorelai nods along.
"God, she really does tell you everything. You have to believe me when I say I'm actually trying this time. I have never met a parent before." Like Dean, he knows that Lorelai needs to like him. Anna had told him how much love and loyalty she has for the woman who gave birth to her. He was sure if Lorelai said no, he would be leaving here single. She nods her head and plays the movie, which did not put his nerves at ease.
"Do you think she likes me?" Tristan leaned against the Porsche.
"What did she say while I was in the bathroom?" Anna put her hands in her jacket pouch pocket.
"That you tell her everything. If I make one wrong move she'll be there. Why did you have to tell her about my past girlfriends?" He leans his head back.
"Because I was worried about it and she is the only one that makes me feel at ease when I get anxious." She told him.
"She put you at ease enough to keep dating me. She didn't say dump him." He looked at his girlfriend shocked.
"No, she said that everyone has a past. If you seem to be making changes, I shouldn't hold it against you." She shrugs. Her mom never straight up told her what to do, she gave her advice and she had to decide what to do about it.
"That makes me feel so much better." He licks his lips to pull her into a wet sloppy kiss.
"Ew, I hate when you do that." Anna pulled away to wipe his spit off her face.
"I know I just wanted her mom to see that you control things." He snickers. He could see the woman watching from the window. A throat clearing made them look to the side to see Dean. "Hey man, you ready?" He nodded at him.
"Yeah, thanks for the ride by the way." Dean went over to the passenger side.
"No problem, I'm heading that way anyway." Tristan shrugs. He gave Anna a real kiss goodbye before driving off. She walks back into the house to hear Rory finally telling their mom about the kiss.
