"This, boys and girls, is the story of true love: a beautiful girl from one county, a handsome boy from another. They meet and they fall in love. Separated by distance and by parents who did not approve of the union, the young couple dreamed of a day that they could be together. They wrote each other beautiful letters, letters of longing and passion, letters full of promises, and plans for the future. Soon the separation proved too much for either one of them to bear. So, one night, cold and black with no light to guide them, they both snuck out of their homes and ran away as fast as they could. It was so dark out that they were both soon lost and it seemed as if they would never find each other. Finally, the girl dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her lovely face. 'Oh, my love, where are you? How will I find you?' Suddenly, a band of stars appeared in the sky. These stars shone so brightly they lit up the entire countryside. The girl jumped to her feet and followed the path of the stars until finally, she found herself standing right where the town gazebo is today. And there waiting for her was her one true love, who had also been led here by the blanket of friendly stars." Anna was sitting with the children at Patty's dance studio to listen to the romance story. "And that, my friends, is the story of how Stars Hollow came to be, and why we celebrate that fateful night every year at about this time. Now, we still have a little time left in our story hour. Who wants to hear about the time I danced in a cage for Tito Puente?" Miss Patty asked.
"Me!" Anna raises her hand along with the children.
"It was the summer of 66….." She began.
Lorelai is sitting at the kitchen table reading a box of Stroganoff Hamburger Helper. Anna was cooking the hamburger. "Oh no, she didn't talk you into letting her help again, did she?" Rory walks into the kitchen.
"She's just going to hand me things and stir at some point." Anna looks over her shoulder to tell her.
"You know most kids don't stop their moms from cooking." Lorelai looks up from the box.
"Most moms don't need a fire extinguisher." Rory shot back.
"Funny, funny girl, I want to cook like on the Food Channel. I want to sauté things and chop things and do the BAM, and I want to arrange things on a plate so they look like a pretty little hat. I want to be the Iron Chef!" She pretended to cook and plate.
"Fine, I'll help." Rory gives in.
"Now, if I had only bought some hamburgers." Her mother hummed.
"You didn't buy hamburgers?" She looks from her sister to her mother in surprise.
"Yes, I bought hamburgers. Anna is cooking it right now. I just like saying things like that so you look at me like I'm crazy." She got up to open the fridge to grab a drink.
"Rory, can you get me a pot and boil water?" Anna needed the boiling water for the noodles.
"Sure thing," She opens the cabinet to grab the one big pot they had. "So, tell me, why the sudden need to be domestic?" She asked her mother.
"Ah, I don't know. I'm in a funky mood." She had to reach in the back to get her beverage of choice.
"Why?" Anna asks.
"Too many stars, too much love, it makes me cranky." She closed the fridge with her cola bottle in hand.
"I take it you haven't heard from Mr. Medina?" Rory moves the cookie sheets and cake pans around to get to the pot.
"Hmm, no, I haven't." Lorelai sat back down at the kitchen table.
"Maybe that's why you're cranky." Rory was no longer looking for the pan but staring at her mother.
"Okay, new subject please." Lorelai never liked talking about their teacher anymore.
"You know, you have a phone also." Rory reminds her.
"How's it coming with that pot?" She nods to the cabinet.
"Cleopatra, queen of denial," She sang.
"The pot, Chucky, please," She pleads.
"Okay, fine, new topic." She grabs the pot to put in the sink and fill it up with water.
"Thank you." She nods.
After watching the pot fill up halfway, Rory took a seat at the table. "I have this huge favor to ask you."
"Oh, something I can hold over your head. Let's hear it." Lorelai smiled. Anna turns off the water and puts the pot on the stove.
"Friday night is Dean's and my three-month anniversary." She told them. Anna counted in her head of how long she was going out with Tristan. Was she supposed to count from their first study date or the day of the track tryouts when they had it official? She supposed it didn't matter. It was only a two-week difference. That was mid-August and now it was early January. So, in a few weeks they would make five months, in another month it would be half a year.
"Three months? Wow." Lorelai gasps when she realizes it had been that long ago.
"And Dean has some big fancy evening planned for us." She smiles.
"Very classy of him," She nods.
"Yes, it is. But for me to partake of the aforesaid fancy evening, I have to get out of Friday night dinner." Rory explains.
"Ah. That's the favor." Anna put the noodles into the boiling pot.
"Good luck with that," Lorelai told her, making Anna laugh.
"Mom!" Rory whines.
"Do you know how much Emily Gilmore will not care about your three-month anniversary?" She knew her mother would say that three months wasn't that long.
"I was thinking you could talk to her." She mutters.
"If there was a runoff between what Emily Gilmore would care about less, a two-for-one toilet paper sale at Costco or your three month anniversary, your anniversary would win, hands down." She put her hands down on the table.
"Grandma doesn't know what Costco is." Anna turns around to protest. She didn't go shopping for necessities.
"My point exactly," Lorelai pointed at her.
"So you're not even going to try to help me?" Rory asks.
"Oh no, I'm going to try to help you, because I care. Emily Gilmore, however…" She shook her head.
"Phone please?" Rory asks.
"Okay." Lorelai walks over to the phone and laughs.
"What?" Her daughters ask.
"Nothing, it's just, Oh, hey Mom, uh, Rory and Dean are having their three month anniversary on Friday." She dials the phone and puts it up to her ear as she mocks her mother's voice. "Really Lorelai? Why that's wonderful. I'm thrilled."
"Stop," Rory demands.
"'Three months. Well, woohoo. Hold on, I'm going to cartwheel.'" For some reason she made Emily sound like Mrs. Doubtfire.
"Forget it." She sighs.
"Oh, no wait. She's telling my dad now. Why I think they're cabbage patching." She did a little dance.
"That's it. Don't let her stir, Anna." She turned to her sister.
"Mom?" She said shocked like she wasn't the one to dial her mother's number. "Uh, yes, hi, hello, hi, how are you doing?" She walks out of the kitchen with Rory on her heels.
Anna grabs the box while her mother is gone to make the sauces and put it in the hamburger. Then she strains the noodles and adds it to the mix. She stirred it to make sure that everything was covered in sauce. She grabs the baguette that her mother bought, so she could use a French accent for the rest of the shopping trip. She cut it up, put garlic butter on, and popped it in the oven to get toasted.
She pulled it out of the oven when her mom and sister came back into the kitchen. "Rory and you don't have to go to Friday night dinner this week." Lorelai sat down at the table in disbelief.
"Me too," Anna pointed to herself.
"Yeah, she said it would be an adult-only night, I think she is planning on killing me." She put her head on the table.
"Mom, you're being ridiculous." Rory made a plate.
"Yeah, grandma wouldn't dirty her hands with your blood. She would hire a hitman." Anna laughs.
"That oddly makes me feel better." Lorelai picks her head up as Rory puts the plate of food in front of her. "Hey, you stirred without me." She glares at her youngest.
"You took too long on the phone." She made her plate and sat down.
Rory made her plate and sat down at the table. "So, are you going to go out on a date with Tristan this Friday?"
"Nah, I think I'm going to take some much needed me time." She was normally with her sister, mother, or boyfriend. If she wasn't with any of them, she was working at either Luke's or the Inn. So, some time to herself would be nice.
"I get that." Rory nods.
Anna was waiting for Rory by her locker. Her class let out a little early, so she had some time. She was pushed up against the locker. She looks up to see Tristan's blue eyes staring at her. "Hey beautiful," He leans down to kiss her. She let out a little gasp that allowed him to turn the simple kiss into a full-on make out. She wraps her arms around his neck. The sounds of their peers leaving their classrooms didn't register to the two of them.
"And they're off." Madeline watches the couple making out on her locker.
"The bell just rang three seconds ago. How did they get lip locked so fast?" Paris thought ill of a girl who would let herself get felt up in front of a crowd.
"I want a boyfriend to make out with." Madeline sighs.
"Ty Tolson likes you." Louise reminds her.
"I want a different boyfriend to make out with." She wanted a boyfriend like Tristan that took the lead. Ty had to be constantly told what to do. "I can't get to my locker." She wondered if she was going to be late to class because of the couple.
"I'm sure they'll move if you ask nicely. You know, dangle a hotel key in front of their faces." Louise teases. They watch as Tristan lifts her, to put his knee in between her legs and push his body completely against her so that she would stay at that height because his back was getting sore.
"This is a school. You don't do this in school." Paris grumbled.
"Not unless you've got a boyfriend like Tristan. Then you do it anywhere you can." Louise, like Madeline, would love a boyfriend like Tristan.
"Street corner," Madeline smiles.
"Shopping mall," Louise listed.
"Photo Booth," Madeline thought of the steam pictures she could make with the handsome blonde.
"Starbucks," Louise pops out.
"Thank you for the where to make-out list, but Madeline needs to get her books," She walked over to the couple.
"Hell hath no fury." Louise teases as they follow her.
"Excuse me. You're in my way." Paris shouted to get no reaction. "Hey, spawn in front of somebody else's locker please."
"I'm assuming your locker's in there somewhere also." Rory walks up from behind her.
"Mine is," Madeline raised her hand.
"Yup, right behind Belle Watling." She points at the auburn brown hair girl.
"Have you tried to get their attention?" Rory asks.
"Sure have." She sighs.
"No luck?" Rory knew sometimes it could be hard to tear them apart when their kissing got this intense.
"Nope," She shook her head.
"God, look at that. It's like he's eating her face." She wonders if that is how Dean looked when he kissed her.
"Okay, that's it. I'm getting the fire hose." She looked over at the water fountain.
"Let me try first." She stops Paris, thinking that her sister might throw a punch at Paris if she throws water on her. "Hey, could you two just move this whole thing down to the left a little?" She tapped her sister's shoulder.
"What?" Anna glares at her sister. Tristan didn't move back, hoping that Rory would say what she needed and he could go back to kissing her.
"You're standing in front of the lockers." She reminds her of where she was.
"Oh right, sorry. You see I was waiting for you and then Tristan came along. We got a little carried away." Anna scratched the back of her neck.
"Right, well move," Rory gave her an unimpressed look.
"Right, sorry." Tristan moved back and put her down gently. They move a little to the left like asked. Rory and Madeline open their lockers.
"Hey Paris," He nods to the girl that was standing behind Madeline.
"Hey." She shyly nods back.
"Thanks for the costume idea. I would look stunning as Belle Watling." She envisioned herself in the yellow dress. Paris glared at her, for having heard and ignored her.
"Hey, party at my house, Saturday. Dress to impress, please." Madeline grabs some flyers for her locker and hands one to Anna and Tristan.
"Come?" She hands the flyer to Rory.
"Oh, I don't know." She shrugs.
"You can bring your boyfriend." Madeline put it on top of her books.
"I'll see." She nods.
"So, pick me up Saturday night?" Anna put her flyer in Tristan's face.
"And if I don't?" He puts a hand on the lockers behind her head and smirks.
"Then I'll have to call Henry to see if he'll be my Rhett Butler." She slips out from between him and the lockers to walk away.
"You know that Belle Watling and Rhett Butler don't end up together, right?" He yells at her back before he sighs in appreciation of watching her hips sway. "Ah, to be young and in love," He walks off with a dreamy look on his face.
"What a shame Elizabeth Barrett Browning wasn't here to witness this. She'd put her head through a wall." Paris continues to glare at Anna.
Anna was doing Rory's makeup and Lorelai was combing Rory's hair in Rory's bedroom. The lady of the evening had on a red halter dress.
"Oh, we got new coffee makers. Ugh! What was I thinking?" She groans at how she made such a fool of herself.
"Well, you spent a lot of time picking out those coffee makers." Rory closes her eyes as Anna applies the eye shadow.
"Oh yeah, I'm Mrs. Coffee." She groans.
"You kind of are." Anna points out to get another groan from her mother.
"Ow! Okay, I'm still attached to the head." Rory reminds her.
"And I'm trying to do makeup. You can't make her head jerk like that." She grabbed a wipe to clean her sister's eye so that she could redo the makeup.
"Okay, sorry. I'm a little worked up." She apologized.
"Mom, it's just Luke's ex-girlfriend." Rory didn't see why she cared what the woman thought.
"I know. I just hate that I made myself look so stupid in front of…" She sighs towards the end not finishing her sentence.
"Luke?" Anna offers.
"No, Rachel. She was standing there, fresh off a plane, and she had no plane hair at all might I add." Lorelai didn't know why but she felt intimidated by the woman.
"And what exactly is plane hair?" Rory asks, never having heard the term.
"You know, it's all big and all…bah." She waved her hair to show how big it should have been.
"Got it," Rory nods.
"And he's staring at her like she's Miss September and she's looking at him like he's Johnny Depp, and I was just babbling like a moron, what is wrong with me?!" She whines.
"Ow! Ow! Okay, you are now officially off hair duty." Rory took the hairbrush from her.
"Aw, I'm sorry. I just…" She sighs.
"No, it's okay. I just think it's a little early for Dean to see me completely bald." Rory passes the brush to her sister when she sees her putting the makeup away.
"Right, that's more a six-month thing." Lorelai nodded and sat down on the bed. Anna took her place behind Rory to finish her hair.
"So what's going on with you?" Rory looks at her mother through the mirror.
"I don't know. It's just all this love in the air, you know. I miss Max. There's just been so much going on with your Dad coming home and family stuff and your constant existence." She explains. Anna put the brush down and sat down on the bed next to her mom.
"Thanks for the love." Rory spun around on her chair to look at them.
"Any time, so I haven't had a lot of time to focus on it and I miss Max." She leaned her head on Anna's shoulder.
"I know." They knew this would happen sooner or later. She cried all night over Max and then never brought him up again.
"I had a dream about him the other night." She told them.
"Really? Dirty?" Anna pats her head.
"No, absolutely not, and when you're 21, I'll tell you the real answer. Anyway, it's put me in a funk since then." She realized how lonely she was and it was making her bitter.
"I'm sorry," Rory said. Anna rubs her back.
"Me too, we could talk about me for years, and believe me, we will. But let's focus on you, the lady of the evening. No hooker reference intended." She said when she realized how that sounded.
"Glad to hear it." Rory laughs.
"Now, what are you going to wear with that?" She asks.
"Um, you tell me." She got up to show them a red cardigan and a red, black, and yellow striped cardigan.
"Uh, where is he taking you?" Lorelai asks.
"Why?" Rory didn't see why that mattered with her outfit.
"Well, you don't want to clash with the decor. A lady plans ahead." Lorelai gave her some dating advice.
"I guess that's true. If the walls are red, you don't want to camouflage yourself." Anna thought about it.
"Well, if you must know, he's taking me to Andoloro's." Rory brags.
"Oh, well isn't that romantic?" Anna gushes.
"I know!" She smiles.
"Wow, it's going to be just like Lady and the Tramp. You'll share a plate of spaghetti, but it'll just be one long strand, but you won't realize it until you accidentally meet in the middle. And then, he'll push a meatball towards you with his nose, and you'll push it back with your nose, and then you'll bring the meatball home and you'll save it in the refrigerator for years and. . ." Lorelai compares them to a doggy romance.
"Mom?" Rory put a stop to her ranting.
"Uh, neither. Just wear your coat." She waves her hand.
"Okay." She put the sweaters back in her closet.
"But your flower's just a little smashed." Lorelai got up to fix the flower on her collar.
"Rory?" Lane yells.
"I'll get the door." Anna went to open the door for her friend. "Hey Lane, come in. Mom is just fixing her flower."
"Hello Anna, three months it's so exciting. Hey, Tristan never took you on a three-month date." She realized.
"I know, I point that out. He said that anniversary comes from the word annual, which is once a year." She pouts.
"Well, I suppose he's always taking you to nice places." Lane shrugs. Rory came in and Lane yelled. "Oh my god, I just can't believe it!"
"I know!" Rory smiled.
"I mean, three months, that's like one sixty-fourth of your life!" Lane grabs her hands.
"I know!" Rory swings their joined hands.
"I have to stop hanging out with you guys. I mean, you're just making my life seem too pathetic." They walk into the living room.
"Join the club." Lorelai grabs her keys.
"Are you going to the festival? Cause maybe we could meet you there later." Rory asks Lane.
"Oh yeah, that would be romantic." She rolls her eyes.
"Lane," Rory told her many times that neither she nor Dean thought of her as a third wheel.
"Yes, I'm going to the festival. And would you like to know why?" Lane asks.
"Uh oh!" Anna let out with a smile on.
"My mother has once again set me up." Lane sat down on the couch. The sibling sat on either side of her.
"Another future doctor," Rory asks.
"A future chiropractor, I think she's losing confidence in my prospects." Lane went on so many horrible blind dates.
"Maybe he'll be nice." Rory tried to see the bright side.
"Oh, it's not just him. We're going with his parents, his grandparents, two sisters, three brothers, and at least one maiden aunt." She explained that her date was more of a group outing, where she would be judged and tested by them.
A car honks from outside. "That's Dean," Rory told them.
Anna and Lane got up to walk her out. "Remember, you have to tell me everything."
"Okay. You too," Rory was hoping that her night would be good also.
"Oh yeah, after the walking, the silence, the sitting, and the bye, that's when the fun will begin." Lane scoffs.
"I want to know anyhow. Bye, Mom. Bye Anna." Rory hugs her mom and sister.
"Bye honey, have fun." Lorelai waved.
"Okay." She nods.
"Don't forget the meatball." She yells as Rory closes the door.
"The meatball," Lane asks.
"It's a mother-daughter thing. So, I'll see you guys later." She walks out the door to go to her mother's house.
"So, think I can hang out with you for a while?" Lane turns to Anna.
"As long as you don't mind watching Golden Girls and eating cheesecake," She couldn't watch one of her favorite shows whenever she wanted even though she had all the seasons on tape because her family was sick of watching it over and over again. So, whenever she had the house to herself, she had a marathon.
"Sure," Lane nods.
"But, you have to leave for your date when it is time. I don't want Mrs. Kim to be more upset with me than usual." She went to get her VHS tapes from her room.
Anna was watching the episode where Blanche gave Sophia a makeover to go out on a date. "Remember Ma don't do anything I wouldn't do," Dorothy told her.
"I think I crossed that line when I got a date." Sophie burns her before she opens the door.
Anna laughs when she hears the front door open. "Rory? Mom?" She got up from the couch when she saw the time. For either of them to be back this early would mean that something bad happening.
"Hey kid, grandma pulled a Mrs. Kim on me." Lorelai came in and sat down on the couch. She picked up the pan of cheesecake and took a big bite.
"What?" Anna sat down next to her. Her mother told her about her boring date from hell and grandpa catching her sneaking out the window. Anna had a good laugh at her expense.
She picked up the phone. "What are you doing?" Her daughter asked.
"Calling Max got his voice mail." She sighs.
Rory came in with a shocked look on her face. "Rory?" Lorelai hung up the phone.
"We just broke up." Lorelai and Anna got up to hug her.
