"I can't believe I'm missing the soft opening." Anna was going to miss her mom's soft opening of the Inn.

"You can't help it. You got finals. It is the first thing you missed since moving here so I think that is a feat in itself." He never thought he would be on so many road trips to get to Star Hollow.

"I know and that's what makes this so sad. This is a moment that we have been dreaming of for years." She pushed the cart. They were at the grocery store getting what she needed to practice for her finals.

"It is not the moment. It's the soft opening. The moment is the grand opening." Jess corrected.

"I can't go to that. They are booked up. What if I can't make it to anything anymore? The people of Star Hallow won't think I care." She put a lobster into the cart. "Do you think lobster bisque says I'm trying too hard?"

"No, I don't think it does. It's a smart move. It meets the soup and seafood requirements." He looked over the guidelines of the exam. The students had to make a few dishes. They had to meet certain requirements like seafood, soup, four different cooking methods, and a salad with four different cutting styles. This was done at home. She could sign out equipment from the school if she needed to. "And the people at Star Hollow aren't that stupid to think that you wouldn't care. I'm starting to think you're going to take over for Taylor when he retires."

"Oh please, Taylor is never going to retire." She scoffs. "Okay, we got everything on the list. Now the fun part is making Jaci's chopped basket."

"Yes, because your fancy culinary school is copying a tv show." He rolled his eyes. It was the one part of the exam that Anna couldn't prepare for. She would get a basket with four random ingredients that she had to make a dish out of.

"So, I'm thinking cranberry sauce, eel, deviled eggs, and zucchini." She lists.

"You know I don't like thinking of deviled eggs." He could still smell the rotten eggs all over his car.

"Then maybe you shouldn't spend months trying to get the town to chase you with pitchforks." She would take the secret of her sister and mother doing that to the grave.

"I almost succeeded. You were at that town meeting." He had a good time pranking the town. "Remember that chalk outline." They chuckled at the memory.

"I remember having to crawl underneath Babette's house to see if the cat dragged Pierpont there." She had to wear a headlamp while army-crawling through the mud.

"The last time you went to the spa you got a mud bath." He put a case of soda into the cart.

"How many times must I tell you that it is a clean mineral mud? No bugs have lived in there." She rolled her eyes.

"Please, if they told you that bug feces would give you a youthful glow you would shove your face in the garden every day." He snickers when she licks the side of her cheek because she knew he was right.


"Why is there often a range for the amount of flour used in yeast bread?" Jaci reads off the flash card. She and Anna were testing each other. It was the day before their written final.

"Depending on the humidity the flour varies on the amount of liquid it will absorb." She cheered when Jaci gave her a thumbs up to say she got the answer correct. "How can you tell if an egg is raw or cooked while it is still in its shell?" She read from the stack of cards she had in her hand.

"You can spin a cooked egg, not a raw one." It was the first cool tip she learned at culinary school. "You guys went through it twice now and got every question correct, can we eat?" Danni stopped before they could switch decks again.

"I am getting hungry." The smell of the ribs that had been slow cooking in the oven all day was making Jess's mouth water.

"I'll set up the chopped videos and you can get the food out." Jaci grabbed the two seasons of Chopped they rented.


"Why make them do the third round if they already lost because the other person beat them in the first two rounds?" Jess was outraged that the lady smashed the guy in the dessert round to lose anyways.

"They have to make them do the third round to fill up air time." Danni pointed out why it was done.

"Then these rounds should be separate throughout the whole show. The first round doesn't affect the second, so why does it affect the third?" He didn't like the structure of the show.

"It's the rules of the game." Jaci shrugged.

"It's stupid. If you let them get past the round even though they forget a basket ingredient then you shouldn't be able to eliminate them in the last round for it." He was steaming at the way this show worked. "They're wasting people's time. Let them have more time on their free trip to New York."

"You are bothered." Anna laughed at how seriously he was taking this. "Look at it like this, every round is a way for them to win people over so they'll come to their restaurants."

"Half of these people are assholes." Jess hated the cocky chiefs who never admit when their dishes were shit. Some of them insulted the judges while they did their walk of shame.

"Then why do you care that they're getting screwed?" She leaned her head back on Sauske who was curled up on the back of her seat.

"Because it normally happens to the few people they give us to root for." He had lost his patience when the third person he found himself rooting for got screwed over.

"I don't know if I'm going to be able to think this quickly." Jaci sighs. "I wouldn't have looked at gummy and thought to melt it down to make a sauce."

"That's why we are watching this so we can get ideas for what they throw at us." Anna stopped the freakout before it started.

"Taco and salad are the perfect vehicle for almost anything." Danni pointed out it was never a failure with the judges.

"It is about balancing the flavors and showing off your skill set. The point is to show that we know how to manipulate food." Anna thought as long as she put a dish together she would be alright.

"You're right. And even if I fail it I can still pass with the written and home exam." She found a way to calm herself.

"That is true." She nods. "Let's go through the flashcards again." She grabs them from off the table getting a groan from their partners.


"Why do you hate me?" Anna looks inside her basket. There was canned mackerel, dark chocolate, okra, and mustard powder.

"You gave me cranberry and eel!" She shouted.

"And you made delicious sushi. It is genius, with work it could be put on a menu." She was surprised by how well it turned out. She used eggs, cranberry, and a few other ingredients to make a sauce. The zucchini replaced the cucumber.

"The timer has started." Danni pushed the button.

"Okay… okay." She grabbed the big mixing bowl. She decided to make a mackerel pattie. She made a savory chocolate sauce with mustard powder, cumin, olive oil, and cinnamon. She was making fried okra for a side. She never found herself sweating so much as she doubted every move she made in the next thirty minutes.

"So, what do you think?" She put three plates down in front of her judges.

"I'm surprised that I don't hate it." Jess dipped the okra into the sauce.

"The patties are moist and tasty." Jaci enjoyed them.

"Would you order it?" She leans against the island.

"Not as is, but I wouldn't send it back to the kitchen either. I would have the patties again." Danni was honest.

"As long as you're not spitting it out." She was happy that it wasn't inedible. She made a plate to try her creation. "The pattie is good. The sauce could use some work." She thought the sauce was still too sweet.

"Chocolate is not meant to be savory." Jess wasn't going to have to keep trying this sauce until she perfected it.


To celebrate making it through their finals, they went to a karaoke room. They brought their fake ID so they could drink. "Ooh, You can dance. You can jive. Having the time of your life. Ooh, see that girl. Watch that scene. Digging the dancing queen." The two celebrating were dancing around while singing their hearts out.

"So, what song did you agree to sing?" Chris asks his business partner.

"Hotel California." He agreed to sing it with Anna. "What song are you singing?"

"Living on a Prayer." He said it like it was the most obvious choice in the world.

"I'm going to do Barbie Girl," Matt told them, getting freak-out looks from his friends. "Hey! When you can't sing you make it funny. That way they laugh with you and not at you. Do you know if Mindy is single?" He nods to the coworker that the girls made friends with.

"I don't know. I've only seen her when I drop by the restaurant." Jess shrugged.

Danni got up to sing with her girlfriend, Teenage Dirtbag. Anna sat down next to Jess. "I think I'm going to ask Santa for a karaoke machine."

"So we get kicked out of the building?" Jess scoffed.

"Maybe I'll keep it at my mom's house." She thought it would be fun to sing with Babette.

"That's where it belongs." He hums.

"Come on, let's go next." She grabbed his hand to pull him to the stage.


"Fuck." Anna's head was pounding. She rubs her temples as she walks into the bathroom to get the aspirin. She took it with her into the kitchen to grab a Gatorade. She looked at her dead phone that was sitting on the counter. She went to the living room to plug her phone in. "Woah. That is a lot of voicemails." She started the first one which was by her mom.

"Oh my god, Anna, you are missing so much. The big moments are happening. Luke kissed me. In the middle of it, Kirk ran by naked. He has night terrors, so Luke is trying to catch him. Now I'm going home to check on Rory because I need to gossip with her since you won't answer your phone. She is thinking too hard about the music selection. Call me." She hangs up.

"Oh my god, it happened. " She cheers. Naruto hopped around, catching his owner's excitement.

"Enough with the squealing." Jess slammed the bedroom door open.

"Luke kissed my mom." She squeals, making him grab his head.

"Good for him, but don't be so loud." He opened the bottle of aspirin she left on the counter.

"Grandma, probably grumbling about Mom putting her in the honeymoon suite." She put it on speaker before pushing play so Jess could hear it.

"Hey ANNA!" She leaned back at Emily's drunk voice. "I need to get out of this house. So, let's go for a summer trip around Europe. We can flirt with handsome European men. Flirting is not cheating. It will be great. We can see the sites. Get the fun that we deserve. Love you, call me back and we can plan the trip."

"What was that?" Jess poured himself a glass of juice.

"My drunk Grandma invited me on a trip." She only witnessed her drunk before at Gran's funeral.

"You should go." He nods. "Going with her will involve a lot of high-end restaurants."

"I can't take the whole summer off. I have a job. I can only take two weeks off at a time." She reminds him.

"Then go for two weeks." He shrugged.

"Why do you want me out of the country so bad, is your other girlfriend complaining about not seeing you enough?" She narrowed her eyes.

"If a free trip fell in my lap I would take it." He ignored her childish comment.

"Your mom offered to pay for your gas to go to Maine." She smiled.

"To somewhere exciting. Not looking at fake old things." He sighs.

"Maine has great seafood." She thought about what it was known for.

"Are you taking the trip or not?" He rolled his eyes.

"I suppose I can." She would call her grandma later to hash out the details.

"The next one is by Rory. Probably her reaction to the beginning of Mom and Luke." She pushed play.

"Anna." Rory sobs. She perks up in her seat. Jess raised his eyebrows. "Mom and I got into a big fight because I had a passionate night with Dean. I lost my virginity and it was wonderful. She ruined it for me. She makes me feel like the worst person in the world. I know he's married but it's been horrible. He hates it. She wants to be a housewife so Dean had to quit college and work all these jobs while she sits at home. He says he loves me. I just… call me please I need you." She hung up.

She stared at her phone in shock. "I don't know what to say. I'm calling her back first. What should I say? I don't want to support her having an affair with a married man, but I don't want to make her feel like a monster for it."

"You find a way to end it. I hate Dean. I want him out of our lives." Jess didn't want to have to spend holidays with him.

"I'm not going to say that." She huffed.

"Why? You feel the same way." He scoffs.

She called Rory and took it off the speaker. "Hey, Rory."

"Hi, I'm sorry for the crying voicemail." She hated how she embarrassed herself.

"It's fine. How are you doing?" She worried for her.

"I'm good. Do you regret losing your virginity to Tristan?" She asked.

"Um…. no, virginity is a social concept. Who you have your first time with isn't important? The sexual double standard isn't something to live by." She didn't like how much pressure girls were put under. "Are you regretting it?"

"I don't know, it's complicated. Do I regret the person? No, but I do regret the timing. I should have waited until he was divorced or at least separated." She wished she had done things right instead of giving in to her emotions.

"Is he going to get a divorce?" She asked.

"I don't know. I got caught up in the moment and didn't ask any questions. Mom came when it was over. I tried to talk to him at Patty but I got caught in the moment again." She told her.

"You having sex with Dean at Miss Patty, that's funny." She laughs. "Do you want to be in a relationship with him?"

"I did but, then I heard Lindsey talking to the butcher about making a roast. She wants to make it work. They are married. She deserves a real chance to do that without me being there to be a distraction." She knew she had to be an adult about this.

"So, what are you going to do?" She tucked her legs under her.

"I wrote a letter. I don't know when I'll have a chance to give it to him." She looks at the envelope that was sitting on her desk.

"I think this is the best decision. How are you and Mom?" She didn't want to be a referee on Friday nights.

"I was planning on talking it out with her, but she is shipping me off to Europe with grandma. She wants to put some distance between Dean and me." She huffs. "Grandma told me she invited you too so you have to come."

"I got work but I can come for two weeks." She explains.

"I suppose that's better than nothing." She sighs. "I have made a mess of things."

"It'll work out. It always does. I'm sure the distance will be good for you and Mom too. Missing people makes you want to forgive them." She sips her drink.