October 14th, 1982
8.36 PM

Caroline Courtenheim was sour. Hanging out at the parking lot outside school was not exactly how she'd imagined spending her Friday night; as soon as she got her license and started her senior year, she left parking lot socializing behind her, never to return again. At least, that's what she thought. But, apparently, here she was driving straight to it.
"You're gonna pay me back for this, Maggie," Caroline said to her little sister in the back seat. Margarets eyes narrowed.
"I won't, you owe me this since I covered for you when mom found your booze in the masonry heater. Besides, when dad gave you the car they conditioned that you drove me places every now and then. And this is important! I might have a shot with Charlie tonight!"

Lorelai sat squished between Margaret and a girl named Amelia Feltheart. Carrie could complain all she wanted but at least she had theoretical options. People had been talking about Fred Brookfield's party all week at school, but Fred had made it very clear no one younger than sixteen was gonna get through the front door but Carrie, she was just a phone call away from that party. Lorelai sighed. Being a freshman was all about having to eat what one got served. Best case scenario, one could get served something to drink.

"It's 45 degrees," Amelia said, checking the temperature on the car's instrument panel. "We're gonna wanna go home after fifteen minutes."
"It's not that bad, you guys! Come on, it will be fun! Charlie said he and Matty Stevens could probably get their hands on some alcohol."
Margaret tried hard to keep her friends in a good mood.
"Well, you gotta give Mags that she can keep hopes up," Lorelai said. She knew that Maggie knew that if she and Amelia backed out now, Maggie's chances with Charlie would be long gone by Monday.
"Yeah, as far as I know, Charlie's mixtures are a little too often a little too far from drinkable. He's cute though." Amelia opened her little pocket mirror and started to put on some more mascara. Lorelai slouched down the seat and buried her face in her hands.
"Gimme something to work with here, Hartford! Really just anything remotely exciting! I

don't demand parachuting or sledding down a mountain, it could just be, I dunno, eating something so exotic I throw up just because it's exotic."
"You wanna throw up for excitement?" Caroline watched her in the rear mirror. "I guess that makes at least one realistic expectation for tonight."
"I wanna pat a shark! Pilot a plane! Dance in a Roman castle! Get kidnapped by a prince! And no, Matty Stevens does not count," Lorelai added as she saw Margaret draw in a breath. "Anything but this, this stupid groundhog night!" She slid even further down the backseat.
"Patting a shark sounds weird even for being you," Amelia said, still tending to her eyelashes. "What about just getting drunk?"
"I've tried that before! At least the shark thing is new. Something other than dull drinks and dull Hartford boys with their dull kisses."
"And, just for the record, exactly how many of those dull Hartford kissers have you tried?" Caroline grinned at her.
"At least half of the 9th grade."
"Wow, Gilmore, impressed. You're worse than me."
"I've tried all the sloppy Stevens and bristle Brandons. There were a couple of dry Dwights there in between, but overall: groundhog night."
"Oh, young Lorelai, I can tell you haven't found the right kisser yet. One day, you'll find someone who can kiss so well the world around you just disappears," Caroline said as the car pulled up outside the school. "Just you wait, one day a non-dull boy will turn up."
She shifted into park and looked out over the parking lot, where the long shadows had just vanished and the street lamps were beginning to glow in the dusk.

"Well, well, speaking of non-dull boys, see that guy by the entrance? I've had my eye on him in the cafeteria. Total babe! Maybe I'll hang around for a while," Caroline said. Lorelai craned her neck to see who she was referring to, and oh, it was Chris. Charlie and Matty stood a few feet away, trying to balance their skateboards on a bottle of wine, but Chris was reading. It looked like some vintage paperback, a Hesse? – total show off, he'd told her how boring that coming of age fifties crap was. Who was he trying to pick up? A librarian? But his hair was a little longer. The curls were more visible. Cute, but he probably had to wear a wig around the house. His daddy was not known for his liberal views on boys with long hair.
"Oh, that's just Chris."
"Do you know him?"
"Yup, we've known each other since like, forever. Have a lot of classes together as well."
"What, he's a freshman?" Caroline wiped her forehead. "Jesus, he's just a baby." She paused. "Too bad because that broody thing going on there really is super hot."

Yeah, Chris had really grown hot, there was no denying that. Last year every other girl at school had been drooling over him, hoping that they'd get a chance with him. He wasn't the steady going type, though, he was mostly known for his dates, rumor had it that he planned very sweet dates for the girls he took out. Like that for the stupid Amanda who was really into pugs, Maggie said Chris took her to a kennel.

He'd never asked her out, though. In fact, he was one of the very few guys she knew that she hadn't kissed. Wonder what it could feel like? He did have very steady hands, pretty hands, boys didn't really have pretty hands but he did. And he was a great hugger, warm, soft, but still strong. Yeah, what the hell.
"Okay, I'm doing it."
"Doing what?"
Amelia was after a good twenty five minutes still struggling with her make up.
"I'm going to kiss Chris."
"You're going to kiss Chris?" Maggie put a cigarette between her lips and scrambled through her handbag looking for a lighter. "Why?"
"Why not? I haven't tried him out yet. And since the likeliness of another adventure magically turning up tonight is low, I'm going for this one." Lorelai opened the car door and slanted over the parking lot.

"Hi, Chris."
He looked up from his book and smiled at her.
"Oh, hey, Gilmore. What's —?"
No time for hesitation. She just leaned in and kissed him. His lips were soft and sweet and he tasted like… hard to say, exactly, but something down the line of cherries and daisies and summer and toffee and hey, unexpected dizziness coming up. When they parted, Chris was still holding his book.
"Well, that was a plot twist." He grinned so broad it looked like his face was about to split in half.
"Just spicing up the narrative. Good, bad? Reviews are welcome."
Uh. Those words came out a little too shaky. Chris tilted his head and gave her a little smile. An annoyingly sweet little smile.
"Huh. I'm afraid I don't really know yet? I'm gonna need a second sample for a proper critique."
He set his book aside and slowly pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her. She shivered, and now her ears burned, no, not only the ears, she was turning into a lobster and he went in for the second kiss and, oh, this one was long, slow, soft, thorough. When he prodded lightly with his tongue to make her open her mouth for him her insides turned liquid.

It was a little unclear who let go of whom this time, but Chris was the first one to speak. He still held her tightly as he watched her, grinning.
"Huh, okay, I'd say… C plus?"
"C plus? Ouch, Hayden, my ego just took a hit. I can do better than that."
"Well, then, Ms. Overachiever, show me what you've got."
Chris cupped her face gently in his hands and they kissed again. Uh, this was clearly something different than rough Richie and greasy Gillis and that guy who didn't have a tongue, or at least that was what it felt like. Chris tongue was very much present and it made her feel like her blood was carbonic acid and how did he manage to smell so good? And have such curly golden soft smooth amazing beautiful hair? Oh, there was that taste of cherries again.

"Okay, that was… Uh, that, that was, uh…" Chris said, trying to collect himself after they parted.
"A for aphasic?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. But you're definitely out of the C range."
"So, don't they say the fourth time's the charm? Or did I get it wrong?"
Chris pulled her very close, resting his forehead against hers.
"Just shut up and kiss me," he mumbled.