Cindy Gilmore didn't typically get up early for non-educational purposes, but on one particular Saturday she'd decided to make an exception.
The day before, the Stars Hollow shoe store had hung up a sign with their smiling cartoon sneaker mascot announcing that they were now hiring.
A job advertisement was nothing exceptional of course, but Cindy had long since been aware that employees of the store received a twenty percent discount. Cindy's shoe closet at home rivalled that of her sister's book collection, and she intended to get that job to expand it to the point where her bedroom floor would need to be reinforced. Not to mention all the money she'd save! Cindy was nothing if not a bargain hunter when it came to shopping.
The only thing standing in her way? Kirk.
Cindy had taken on a sizeable amount of jobs in the time since she'd legally been allowed to get one, and at every job interview she'd attended in Stars Hollow Kirk had been at EVERY. SINGLE. ONE! They'd been competing for all the jobs in the town for years now, and though Cindy hated to admit it, Kirk was a worthy adversary. Much to her chagrin he'd recently snatched up the Stars Hollow Beauty Supply job out from under her, as he had his age and way more experience on her. She'd had an in as well with Shane already working there, but her charm just hadn't compared to Kirk's mile long resume.
That had incentivised her. She was getting this job, period. The uniforms were ugly and the job meant dealing with whiny kids who didn't want to try on shoes, but she was getting that discount even if it meant she had to dropkick Kirk out of the store itself and threaten to tell his mom he was trying to have her put in a home. Plus there was the added bonus of Kirk being completely terrified of her.
Typically when the two of them were going out for the same job, Kirk made it his mission to beat her there by any means necessary. Be it renting a hotel room from across the street, "borrowing" the wheels from her bike, or (as was the case this time around) camping outside the store overnight.
So that morning, Cindy had snuck into the still sleeping Kirk's tent to turn off the alarm on the bright yellow clock he'd been clutching to his chest. Her trick ended up working like a gem, so that by the time the store had opened their doors at eight Kirk was still snoring loudly away in his tent. Victory had never tasted so sweet!
She'd made it to the interview on time and had dazzled them if she did say so herself, tying off the interview perfectly by making the usually grim-faced manager chuckle at a well-timed quip about business taxes that she definitely hadn't came up with after spending two weeks observing and documenting what made up his dumb sense of humour.
Kirk -presumably awoken by the noise of the people outside coming in for the day- had clocked her as soon as he'd came in, clad in his teddy bear pyjamas and glaring at her in complete indignation.
"Hey Kirk!" She'd waved, oozing with pleasure at the sight of his wide-eyed incredulity.
"W-WHAT-W- YOU SUCK GILMORE!" He'd declared, with the shrill voice he usually had when he was about to cry. He'd then stomped off in a huff to go looking for Taylor to go complain (fat lot of good that would do), as well as to make sure she didn't see him bawling like the big baby he was.
Now Cindy was on her way to meet her mom and sister for breakfast at Luke's and she was all but sprinting her way over there. She'd only had two crackers for breakfast, having rushed her way out the door in order to get to the shoe store on time. So the full effects of that oh so bright decision of hers were now in full swing.
Thankfully just as her stomach began emitting a series of angry growls, Cindy caught sight of the Luke's Diner sign. "Thank god." She muttered under her breath, praying that her mom and Rory had already begun ordering coffees. Her eyes were beginning to droop, so she was in dire need of sustenance. Like her mom and twin, Cindy ran purely on the warm, welcoming, liquid-y goodness that was coffee, as well as a sprinkle of spite on top.
Once she came through the diner's door the bell chimed to indicate her arrival, causing her twin and fellow wrangler of their mother Rory to turn around. She gave her a nod of acknowledgement as Cindy sat herself down next to her, pushing a steaming cup of coffee over to her whilst her other hand fondly caressed the cup she was currently holding.
"Thank god!" Cindy exclaimed, grabbing it at once to take a huge sip.
"How did job hunting go?" Rory inquired, once she paused for air.
"Good, I think I've got it in the bag." Cindy replied, setting down her coffee cup and grabbing a nearby a nearby napkin to dab at her upper lip. "I made Kirk cry again."
"Poor guy." Rory shook her head in sympathy. "He's gonna be talking about you to his shrink for years to come!"
"That's so sweet of you to say!" Cindy gushed, grinning as she lifted up her cup for another sip.
Though they were as different as night and day, there was no one in the world Cindy loved more than her twin sister. She had always been glad for the life-long peace that had existed between them despite their different natures, given the fact that most of the kids in their grade couldn't stand to be around their siblings, let alone spend a good chunk of their free time with them. She was... Calming to be around, especially when her brain got into its rattled state sometimes. There was never any drama to be had with her. Plus she gave good book recommendations, so she was pretty damn swell in Cindy's eyes.
Just as she set down her cup and was about to ask where their mother was, Cindy clocked her at the counter annoying Luke. She smirked at the sight, shaking her head to herself. It was a well oiled part of their routine of visiting Luke's, but it was always one that tickled Cindy nonetheless.
Lorelai spun around in a tizzy, her eyes landing on Cindy. She began by waving at her in greeting, seemingly more happy to see her then she had been earlier that morning, when Cindy's five alarm clocks had woken her up.
Lorelai began gesturing for her to come over and join her for some reason, causing Cindy to frown in confusion.
Why?She mouthed.
Lorelai continued to gesture.
Cindy's frown deepened, as she lifted up her cup of coffee and began pointing to it to emphasise her point. She didn't like being disturbed mid coffee, she liked to savour every last drop and really appreciate the flavour. Her mom knew this too, which was beginning to make Cindy's irritation flare up.
Lorelai continued to wave her over, an all too cheery smile on her face that said that she knew she would be winning this particular dance.
Cindy rolled her eyes as she stood, letting out a huff of annoyance as she snatched up her coffee cup and left a smirking Rory behind to join their mother. Once she was at the counter Lorelai's smile only widened, a deeply amused giggle emitting from her that said she knew exactly how annoyed Cindy was with her. "Can I help you?" Cindy scowled.
"Sweetie if you keep your face like that it'll stick that way."
Cindy's head swivelled to Luke, who was wearing a similar look of despair. It was a one of a kind look, the kind that only someone who spent an inordinate amount of time around her mother's quirks could ever hope to earn. "You get the coffin, I'll get the shovel." She offered matter-of-factly.
"Tempting." He grumbled, swivelling his head back towards Lorelai. "And no means no!"
"Come on!" Lorelai nodded her head towards Luke. "Cindy, will you please tell Luke I'm not a junkie?"
Cindy found that her life ran a whole lot smoother if she simply went along with whatever oddball requests her Mom asked of her. So with perfect deadpan and with as much passion as a corpse, Cindy did just that. "She's not a junkie."
"Very convincing." Luke quipped.
"Though while I have you Luke..." The picture of faux politeness, Cindy batted her eyelashes sweetly as she held out her coffee cup to him. "Being as you're on refill duty."
Luke peered into her coffee cup, his scowl somehow deepening even further. "You've barely touched it!"
"I-" Cindy waved a hand in front of Lorelai's face.
"Hey!" Lorelai shoved her hand away.
"-was very rudely interrupted mid-consumption."
"You took one sip!"
Cindy's default neutral expression transformed at once, a cold glint in her eye as her lips twisted upwards into a deceptively friendly smile. Everyone in town knew 'The Smile' and anyone with any sense avoided bringing it to life on her face. It was the Stars Hollow equivalent of seeing the Headless Horseman, when you were on the receiving end of it it spelled certain doom. School dance dresses were mysteriously slashed to pieces, cars wouldn't start, and your parents would suddenly know all about that party you'd had to sneak out to one evening.
Cindy knew she'd won before the words had ever left her mouth.
"I'll tell Taylor you're denying me my free refill."
Deeply unimpressed, Luke looked between both of the Gilmores at the counter and shook his head in disapproval. He reluctantly grabbed his coffee pot to refill each of their respective cups. "Junkie." He scowled at Lorelai, refilling her cup to the top. His glare seemed to take on a whole new shine as he got to Cindy's cup, refilling the tiny amount she'd already drank. "Nark."
Cindy's grin brightened tenfold, her annoyance forgotten as she soaked in Luke's crabby expression. There was just something about annoying Luke in particular that made her positively giddy. She supposed her and her mom had that in common.
Lorelai patted her on the shoulder, wearing an equally sadistic smile of pride. "I've never been more proud of you."
That Thursday in her English class as Mrs Phillips droned on about Huckleberry Finn, Cindy was admiring her new lip-gloss in her compact mirror. Her friend Shane had swiped one for her from work at her request, and she was now enjoying the fruits of Shane's thievery. Cindy looked away from the mirror momentarily, placing a hand over her heart as she beamed happily at her friend. "I'm so glad we're friends."
"You're such a cheapskate Cindy," Shane snickered, shaking her head at her.
Cindy shrugged carelessly, pocketing the lip-gloss and mirror just as Mrs Phillips turned back around. The stern-faced teacher gave her a knowing look that Cindy merely returned with a smile that butter wouldn't melt.
"She hates you." Shane laughed under her hand, as the teacher turned her attentions elsewhere.
"True." Cindy shrugged, rocking on her chair as she willed the clock above Mrs Phillips head to move faster. "But she'd be bored without me."
Feeling a look of disapproval being beamed directly at her, Cindy turned around to see her other friend Lindsay shaking her head at her. Lindsay was worse than Rory in trying to get her to pay more attention in class. Pay attention! She mouthed, right on cue as she nodded towards the board. She'll give you detention again! Cindy had to snort at that. What was new?
Okay Mom! She acquiesced, settling her head into her hands as she twiddled with her pencil. God she hated school. The only thing she liked about it was history class. Why Rory was raring to go to that private school was anyone's guess, but hey if it made her happy, who was she to judge?
Cindy knew that if their mom somehow stumbled across a genie in a lamp, her wish after getting Rory into Harvard and a lifetime supply of Kate Spade purses, would be for Cindy to be more academically inclined. It was the same old lecture every time she got her report card back: Why can't you be more like Rory? Just look at that halo! If only you just knuckled down and didn't do all of your studying last minute! Then you too could go on to apply to a college with a notoriously low acceptance rate and get brutally rejected! Why, oh why was I cursed with a daughter such as thee?! She'd repeat it all like clockwork, so much so that Cindy could recall everything from memory like her favourite scenes from Pulp Fiction. It wasn't like she was flunking out, her grades were fine. It was just that school could be an information overload at times. Like her brain would reach max capacity and then crap out on her, leaving her to flail helplessly as she tried to make sense of it all. It was easier to procrastinate or get someone to try and translate it for her. Especially biology. God she hated biology.
Cindy did her best to scribble a few more notes down to appease Mrs Phillips, as well as to bat away the horrible looming face of disappointment her head conjured up of her mom. She hated seeing that face in real life, it made her unbelievably queasy. But despite her efforts, she soon found herself distracted once more as she caught sight of some of the girls from the cheer squad passing nail polish around. Cindy smirked, her plan already formulated.
Just as the bottle landed on Sarah Sheridan's desk one over from her, Cindy snatched it at once before the girl could even lift her hand.
"Bitch!"
Cindy snickered, opening up the bottle to begin painting her nails. "Snooze you lose Sarah!" God she loved tormenting cheerleaders.
"Give it back klepto!" whined Cara Thomas, head cheerleader and the presumed owner of the nail polish.
Cindy waved a hand at her, earning herself a furious middle finger in response. "Stick a sock in it peppy! Ooooo!" She cooed as she finished up her nails, holding them out in front of her to admire as she passed the bottle over to a waiting Shane. "Nice shade!"
"Hey!" Cara hissed, nodding to a spot behind her. "What's your sister doing?"
Cindy peered behind her along with the four members of the Stars Hollow High cheerleading squad, to find Rory, hard at work and scribbling away like there was no tomorrow. Cindy couldn't help but smile affectionately at the sight. She was nothing if not devoted to her education. You had to respect it.
Though Cindy would never admit it out loud, she wished she had Rory's certainty when it came to what she wanted. It would make things a whole lot easier. Rory had had her whole life figured out before they'd even hit the double digits. She knew exactly who she was and what she wanted to be. Cindy could barely figure out what she wanted on a day-to-day basis.
"Maybe it's a love letter!" Cara speculated.
"Or a diary." Sarah speculated.
"Could be a slam book." Jane Webb piped up.
"Or a letter to Santa!" Cindy whispered mockingly, eyes wide with faux wonder.
Cara peered over Rory's desk, scowling as she realised what it was. "It's the assignment!" As the girls made various noises of disgust and began turning back around around, Cindy caught Rory's eye and grinned, before turning back around herself.
"Wow!" Cindy remarked, observing her nails once more. "Between this and the lip-gloss, this may be my least expensive look yet."
"Well you look great!" Her boyfriend Tommy shouted supportively from outside the employee changing room, as she finished pulling her shirt over her head. "I mean the shirt's hideous, but you un-hideous it somehow."
Tommy Carpenter was her boyfriend of over a year. He had soft aurburn hair, the greenest eyes she'd ever seen, cheekbones for days, and he played tight end for the Stars Hollow High football team. Cindy still didn't really know what that meant. Tommy had tried explaining it to her a few times, but whenever he talked football everything he said went completely over her head. Still, he was never an asshole about it, and her mom and Rory liked him well enough. They'd had a field day with the tight end and jock of it all, and had taken great pleasure in embarrassing Cindy in front of him. Thankfully Tommy had taken it all in stride. Cindy had never forseen her longest relationship being with a jock of all things, given that all of the ones at their school were about as emotionally mature as her mother was. But Tommy was nice. He was... Comfortable. He didn't pester her for sex every time they were together and he wasn't the clingy sort. It was like he'd been personally designed in a lab for her.
Cindy drew back the curtain, causing Tommy to guffaw at the sight of her. "Oh my God!" He grinned. "Where's a camera when you need one?"
Hands on her hips and wearing an expression that would send most grown men running, Cindy glowered at Tommy.
The uniform was an affront to fashion. Just wearing it made her feel sick to her stomach. If Cindy didn't love the feeling of getting paid and beating Kirk so much she would've taken the godforsaken thing and burned it! It was the world's most basic blue polo shirt which she'd been forced to wear with jeans, as well as a nametag affixed to the shirt that had their sneaker mascot smiling and pointing cheerfully to her name. Cindy wanted to beat that sneaker to death for looking so happy at that moment.
"It's not that bad," Tommy attempted to reassure her. "You totally pull it off." A noble but pointless gesture, given that he was still grinning at her like an idiot.
"Have you looked at me? I look like I'm forty-five with three kids and drive a mini-van!" She exclaimed, furiously tying up her hair into a ponytail.
"Well uh- You're a really hot soccer mom." He clumsily attempted to assure her.
Cindy smiled to herself as she moved over to dump her stuff in her locker, kissing him briefly as a thanks before locking up. "Thank you. You should go though, I think I saw Taylor shopping for sandals and if he catches you in here-"
"Say no more." He laughed, reaching forward to kiss her goodbye. "Call me when you get home?"
"If you hear me violently screaming into my pillow don't be alarmed."
Once Tommy waved goodbye and headed out the back to avoid detection, Cindy headed out to the storefront to begin exposing people to the absolute sin to fashion she was wearing.
The first few hours of her shift were mostly spent stacking shelves and guiding customers to where they needed to go, however in the last half hour Cindy found herself being approached by a young girl and what was quite possibly the tallest boy she'd ever seen. She recognised the boy from school, as she remembered him being introduced as the new kid from Chicago at the start of a class they shared. That and Stars Hollow was so small that new people stuck out like sore thumbs. Cindy had been otherwise occupied during said introduction though, so much so that if someone held a gun to her head she still wouldn't have been able to recall his name.
"Hi!" Tall Boy smiled, pulling out a list from his coat pocket. He began listing off various shoes his sister needed, who looked as though she wanted to be there as much as she did.
"Can I get the pink ones with the sparkly buckles?" Tall Boy's sister asked, tugging on his arm.
"Clara shut up!" He huffed.
"But I want those ones!"
"They're not on the list!"
"Jesus." Cindy muttered under her breath, counting backwards from twenty as she willed herself to be pleasant.
Once he wrapped up his mini argument with his sister and eventually finished listing off the shoes, Cindy merely stared back blankly rather than giving him the standard customer service smile. "I need to measure her foot first." And without waiting for another word from Tall Boy and his whiny sister, Cindy went to go and retrieve the Brannock Device, only to return to find Kirk chatting animatedly to her two customers who looked as though they wanted to be anywhere else.
"Hey Kirk!" Cindy waved.
The man in question froze, turning around to meet her slowly. "I'm not afraid of you!" He squeaked, in a not at all unconvinicing tone.
"Sure bud." Cindy reached out, patting him condesendingly on the shoulder. "So what are you doing here exactly? Nothing on TV?"
"Well-"
"Shouldn't you be helping us?" Tall Boy frowned.
Cindy shushed him, not pausing for a second as she glared at Kirk.
"Well nemesis of mine, I've come to witness the outright offence to basic customer service your attitude -nay- your existence so often displays." Kirk explained, his head held high as he crossed his arms. "I've been observing you for all of your shift!"
"Yeah I know Kirk, you kept ducking behind a wall everytime I saw you."
"And I've kept note of all of your failings!" Kirk dramatically announced. "Bringing your significant other into the employee only area, your subpar placement of the product, your appalling attention to detail and quite frankly-" He pointed at her. "You're rude."
Cindy rolled her eyes and swatted his hand away, causing Kirk to jump back in alarm. "Did you all seethat?"
"Kirk they'll see me kicking your ass if you don't stop bothering me." Cindy sighed, shaking her head to herself. "So did you get the car wash job?"
Kirk nodded gleefully. "I start Monday!"
"Ahhhh Kirk!" Cindy cooed in delight, rushing forth to envelop her arch rival in a congratulatory hug. "You've wanted that one for so long!"
"I know. Ah!" He gushed happily, patting her awkwardly on the shoulder just before she pulled away. "It's a dream come true! So where was I?"
"You were telling me I'm terrible at my job." Cindy reminded him.
"Yes thank you! You- BAH!" Kirk signalled that he would be keeping an eye on her, hurridly retreating back behind his wall as he realised her steely-eyed supervisor Doug was watching them both with displeasure. Cindy knew if given an inch, he'd fire her and kick the both of them off the premises.
"If you get me fired I'm going out for the bagging job at Dosey's that just opened up!" Cindy hissed to his retreating form. "That's five hours of me getting to throw various items of food at you Kirk!" Good god he could be infuriating. Fun to compete with though.
Kirk whirled around, gaping in shock as he pointed furiously at her. "YOU. WOULDN'T. DARE!"
"I would!" Cindy smiled, wiggling her brows tauntingly. "And I'll suck up to Taylor to do it!"
Kirk let out a scandalised gasp at the threat. "You know he likes me better than you!"
"Ahhhh but you're not an advisor to the Stars Hollow Historical Society. He just loooooves my attention to historical detail. We're buddies, we're pals, we're the closest of confidants, he's-" Cindy fluttered her eyelashes, a gushing tone in her voice as she grinned at Kirk, knowing she was hitting him where it hurt. "-almost like a father to me."
Kirk threw a hand over his heart, pure anguish on his face.
"TAYLOR!"
His mission to breathe down her neck seemingly abandoned, Kirk sprinted out the door of the shoe store. Cindy snickered at her rival's distress, knowing Taylor was about to get a frantic Kirk desperate for reassurance that he liked Kirk more than her trailing his every move for the next few days. Ahhh torturing him was still as fun as ever.
With Kirk dealt with, Cindy set about finally measuring Clara's foot. However as she began doing so, Cindy began to be inundated with the unitended consequence of her torturing of Kirk. Questions. So. Many. Questions. Cindy actually liked kids most of the time -it was practically a rite of passage for a Stars Hollow newborn to be babysat by her after all- but this particular girl wasn't even pausing for air.
"Why were you and that man arguing?"
"He's my archnemesis."
"But you hugged him." Clara pointed out.
"He's also a good friend." Cindy motioned for her to stick her foot into the device. "Don't ever tell him that though."
"Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
Cindy ignored the girl, beginning to take her shoe size. However as she was doing so, Cindy became aware of her peering at her nametag. "Your name is Cindy? Like Cindy Lou Who?"
Cindy's nostils flared. This was karma for the alarm clock thing, wasn't it? "Yes like Cindy Lou Who." She confirmed through gritted teeth.
Tall Boy let out a chuckle at that, which was soon cut short by the irritated glare Cindy shot him.
"Why?"
"Because my mom gave me a very unfortunate first name, so I go by my less unfortunate middle name." Cindy explained, holding up a hand to halt her next question. "And no, I'm not telling you what it is."
While her Mom had named Rory after herself and had nabbed her middle name from a Marilyn Monroe character, she'd opted to name Cindy after the lead singer of the Bangles and had gifted her with a middle name taken from a Dr Seuss book because her hair would stick up a lot as a baby. Sound logic, but Cindy was just glad she'd been dissuaded from using her first choice of a middle name for her, which had been Quincy. Cindy had always hated her name when she'd gone by Susanna. She'd loathed the way it sounded, plus people would sometimes call her Susie, or the insufferable shorthand Suz. Cindy sounded so much prettier, plus it didn't conjour up images of a repressed suburban housewife.
Cindy made a mental note of her shoe size, and then motioned for her to pull her foot back out. "Now if you guys wait a minute, I'll go get your shoes." And she would be passing off the return job to the first person she could find.
"Bye Cindy Lou Who!" Clara waved.
Cindy made a disgrunted noise under her breath as she walked away, seriously considering if this job was worth the headache.
After Cindy finished her shift and happily changed back into her normal clothes, she headed straight home. She'd already formulated her plans by the time she was walking up the driveway. She would stick on a CD, ignore the biology homework she still hadn't finished, and read some more of the new Anne Boleyn book she'd gotten from a used book store the other day.
It was as she was coming up towards the house, that she noted the presences of her mom, Rory and her mom's friend Sookie drinking wine out on the porch. Lorelai perked up as soon as she spotted Cindy, jumping to her feet in excitement. "She got in!" Rory pointed giddily to the long blue plaid skirt she was wearing, looking as though a thousand book shipments had been dropped off at their house.
"AHHHHH!"
Rory ran out to meet Cindy as she ran towards her, the two girls meeting in the middle as Cindy hugged her sister happily.
"Dorkus reigns supreme!" Cindy declared, swinging Rory wildly around.
Rory cried out in surprise, before laughing at the action. "I thoroughly resent this!"
Cindy set her down and the twins hugged each other tightly. Cindy set her chin on Rory's shoulder, both arms wrapped tightly around her as she practically beamed with pride. No one deserved this more than her. "Congratulations!"
"Aw thanks Cindy." Touched by her soft tone, Rory hugged her equally as tightly back. Cindy found herself hugging Rory for a few seconds longer, the weight of the news hitting her all at once. Her heart began to sink, a grim sensation making itself at home in the pit of her stomach of being left behind. No more walks to school together. No more listening to Rory rave about the lastest book she'd devoured in one sitting while they sat together at lunch. They were little things of course, but they were a part of a whole that she hadn't quite realised how much she was going to miss. Cindy schooled her features back into that of joy, taking a deep breath. They'd had each other since day one. A hand to hold when one of them got nervous, a reliable companion at lunch or on a bus ride, or when their mom was being... Well their mom. Cindy didn't know what life looked like without looking back to see Rory there.
As they pulled apart Rory stepped back to display her skirt to Cindy, twirling around to show off its swishiness. "Mom's gonna hem it." She clarified, noting Cindy's horrified look as she registered the sheer length of the thing.
"Oh thank god." Cindy laughed, looping her arm through Rory's as they headed back up to the porch.
"Can you believe it?" Their mom beamed, opening up the front door for them all to pile through. Cindy shook her head, ignoring the pang of jealousy in her chest as she took note of the look of pride on her face. When had she ever looked at her like that? Like she'd not only done something good, but had completely blown past her expectations of her. As much as she longed to not let it affect her, Cindy couldn't help it. As much as they butted heads, she wanted her Mom to be proud of her too. How she could go about doing that though, was anyone's guess.
Cindy lingered by the door as her mom and Rory excitedly chatted whilst heading into the living room, her mood lightening somewhat as a clearly tipsy Sookie shut the door behind them. "Oooo sweetie!" She exclaimed, a sudden thought occuring as she turned to Cindy. "I tried that marocchino coffee recipe you gave me the other day!"
"You did?" Cindy smiled in delight, her heart warming at the news. Cindy was infamous around town for being a coffee snob, so much so that even her Mom and Rory regularly teased her for it. She'd recommended it to Sookie after hearing her complain about never having any good coffee at home. After all, no one did coffee better than the Italians. When her, Rory and their Mom finally went on that tour of Europe after high school, Cindy knew she'd be spending all their time in Italy in coffee shops when she wasn't dragging them into every musueum she could find. "How was it?"
Sookie made a series of delighted moans as they followed after Lorelai and Rory, her face alight with pleasure as she recalled drinking it. "It was divine! Oh I can't believe I've gone my whole life without trying that stuff! It's like-" She paused for a second, attempting to think of an appropriate term. "Liquid gold dust!"
Cindy laughed in delight at Sookie's reaction, pleased to hear that her standing as Stars Hollow's number one coffee snob was still intact. "Good to know. Have I successfully converted you to Italian coffee?"
"You certainly have!" She beamed. Cindy found her mood lightening somewhat as they entered the living room. It couldn't be helped. Sookie was so sweet and sincere that even someone as cynical as Cindy couldn't help but be cheered by her presence.
"How was work?" Lorelai asked, as she bent down to adjust Rory's skirt.
Cindy merely shrugged, waving off the question. "Annoying kids, ugly uniform, Kirk stalking my every move. Same old same old."
"Ahhh the joys of being a working woman." Lorelai retorted.
"My discount kicks in on Monday though, so things are looking up!" Cindy replied, wearing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. God that had sounded so fake. Her mom was totally going to call her out on that. "I'm going up!" She waved with faux-cheer, heading upstairs to go to her room.
"Ok, dinner in an hour!" Her mom called, not even looking up once.
It was fine. Cindy tried to convince herself as she walked up the stairs, ignoring the deflated sensation in her chest. Her mom wasn't a mind reader. This feeling was stupid anyway, she didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to verbalise it. Cindy wasn't particularly good with the words anyway, she was more about the action. Feeling sorry for herself and throwing a pity party wasn't going to acomplish anything. She had to do something. But what?
A lightbulb moment proceeded to strike her as she reached the landing, reaching for the chord that pulled down the opening hatch to the attic. Action! Rory had smarty-pants school, her Mom had the inn and going to school, Sookie had cooking, Luke had fishing, she needed a thing! She needed something of her own. Something that wasn't just reading, working or saving up her money. Something that she could pour herself into fully and that would make her feel as though she was working towards something. But what exactly?
The hatch came free at once, along with the folded up ladder that lead up to her room. She unfolded the stairs at once, taking a second to make sure they were secure before mounting them and heading on up to her bedroom. Not many people could say their bedroom was in the attic, but that had been the case since they'd moved into their forever home when her and Rory had been ten. Cindy loved it though. She had a great view from her window, plenty of space, plus there was a tree round the back of the house she could climb down whenever she didn't feel like taking the stairs. She could distinctly remember climbing up the ladder for the very first time, her heart pounding with wild, uncontrollable joy that not only did she now get to live in a house, but that this beautiful space was hers and hers alone. Once Cindy was at the top of the ladder, she took off her backpack and threw it upwards with one arm. A soft thud indicated that it had landed, and with that she climbed up to her bedroom.
Cindy exhaled as she once again stood on solid ground. She went over to the left of her, switching on the lamp by her bookshelf. The light cast a warm glow upon the light green walls, a warm, cosy feeling trickling into her veins at the sight. She began to unpack her things from her bag, taking out her uniform and folding it up to put on the floor by the ladder so she wouldn't forget to put everything in the machine. Next was her pencil case, various school books, her battered copy of Emma she'd had since she was nine, the nail polish she had never returned, as well as her new lipgloss. Everything was neatly put away, Cindy's mind untensing once she was finally done and settled herself down in her window seat.
Try as she might though, she couldn't focus enough to read. She needed to solve this problem of hers, or it would just bug her. She set aside her book, her mind filing through all the possibilities.
Cooking? While she was getting better at it Cindy didn't imagine it would be fun budgeting for ingredients all the time.
Gardening? Cindy glanced at the plastic cactus she kept on her desk, snorting loudly.
Writing? Nah.
As she went through her mental list Cindy's eyes happened to fall upon her tennis racket, which was hung up on the little hook Luke had nailed into the wall for her. He'd done so after her mom kept making the same Goofy joke over and over about Cindy tripping over it all the time, so much so that he'd outright insisted upon fixing the issue so he didn't have to hear it again. Cindy's eyes went wide in realisation. Why hadn't she thought of this?
Tennis! Every so often she liked going to play tennis at a sports club halfway between Stars Hollow and Hartford, often dragging Shane and Alice and some other friends along with her. She played other things like volleyball, archery (very badly), rock climbing and an occasional bit of soccer when Cindy promised the regulars she wouldn't get too competitive. Plus the membership was dirt cheap, so Cindy made a point of making the most of it. Her favourite out of all the various sports she'd tried out though was tennis. She'd loved it from the moment she'd first played it in gym at school, and she was damn good at it too. So why not try her hand at that? Make a real go of playing for real, polishing off her footwork and technique and getting to work on and enjoy something she already liked. Maybe even somewhere down the line she could play in some local games. They did cash prizes for those right? What did she have to lose?
Cindy sprang up from her seat, crossing her room to grab her tennis racket. She took it off the hook, admiring it with a smile. It was one of the first things she'd ever bought for herself after getting her first job as a delivery girl for Weston's Bakery. She'd scooped the position out from under Kirk, and they'd been fierce enemies ever since. She'd saved and saved and done a hefty amount of research on which one to buy, before being the first and only Gilmore girl to enter a sports store and purchase it. Kirk had let her have his tennis balls after a failed go as tennis instructor, and with that she had been set.
Thoroughly happy with her choice, Cindy let out an uncharacteristic squeal of happiness. Her hand flew to her mouth in surprise, giddiness crackling through her entire body like a firecracker. This would work. This was so going to work. A little bit of a postive change never hurt anyone, right?
The next day Cindy found herself pleading with Rory to join her on her first official I'm-gonna-start-taking-tennis-seriously day, but to no avail.
"Come on! It'll be fun!" She pleaded, her hands clasped together.
"Cindy I suck at sports and you know that." Rory reminded her dryly, as Cindy dumped her things inside her locker and Rory began taking all of her things out of hers. Cindy sighed sadly at the sight. It was Rory's last day at Stars Hollow High, and Cindy felt as though it was going out with a whimper rather than a bang. She knew Rory wasn't particularly sad to be leaving, but if Cindy had had more notice she would have organised some kind of introvert appropriate get together to see her off from Stars Hollow High life.
"Why don't you ask Lindsay or Shane?"
"They're both busy."
"Take Tommy."
"He has practice." Cindy sighed, saying no more on the subject.
Noting how quiet she was being, Rory paused her locker clear-out to poke Cindy in the arm. "Hey, what's with you?" She asked, brow furrowed with concern. "You're being very uncharacteristically non-chatty."
Cindy froze. "How did you-"
Rory tapped the side of her head. "Twin thing my friend."
Damn. She hadn't thought of that. "I'm just-" Cindy hesitated. "-a little sad is all. It's gonna be weird not going to school with you anymore." Rory softened at that, moving forward to envelop her twin in a hug.
"I'm gonna miss you too." Rory admitted. "You've always been with me."
Cindy's shoulders sank in relief at Rory's confession. It wasn't just her then? "So have you. I'm happy for you about Chilton, I really am, but- You're my safety blanket." Cindy sighed, her voice turning way too vulnerable sounding to her liking. "Remember our first day of school?"
"You went about three different shades of white. Mom was worried you were going to have a panic attack." Rory recalled with perfect memory.
"And you took my hand and told me everything was going to be alright." Cindy smiled fondly in remembrance, some of her sadness easing slightly.
"Cindy?"
"Yeah?"
"It's gonna be alright." Rory assured her, carefully selecting her next words. "Sometimes change is good. Sometimes -as much as you loathe and despise it- it can help us grow."
"Change sucks." Cindy complained, folding her arms all while being painfully aware of how much of a stroppy child she looked. "It comes in like the tornado from the Wizard of Oz, rips away everything I'm used to and then gives me the finger to boot."
The two sisters giggled simultaneously, identical smiles on their faces.
"Picturing the tornado giving you the finger?"
"Yup."
"Just-" Cindy exhaled, twisting one of the rings on her forefinger around. "Promise me you won't ditch me for some snooty rich girl, who'll take you to polo matches and brunch and introduce you to Beatrice and Theodore III."
Rory's lip quirked upward. "Cindy you know I'm not going to a boarding school in England, right?"
Cindy's eyes rolled skyward as Rory giggled at her expense. "You know what I mean!" She protested, pulling a face at her. "I just don't want you to forget all about me."
Rory bumped her shoulder against Cindy's affectionately, eyes softening at her brief show of vulnerability. "Never, ok? I promise." She pointed between the two of them. "Since the womb."
Cindy smiled, giving her one last hug. "You were my first roommate."
"And I won't forget it." Rory vowed sincerely, waving a cheered up Cindy off as she turned to go. "Now go be sporty or whatever. Use the ball machine you big loner."
"Love you!" Cindy bid her goodbye sweetly, flashing her the finger in response.
"Love you too!" Rory laughed.
Cindy had never been the self-conscious sort, but when it was just her and the tennis cube she felt as though every eye in the club was on her. Logically she knew the tennis cube was for practicing your strokes and refining them to perfection. Non-logically her brain fretted that she looked like a friendless loser who had no one to play with. God she felt stupid. This was what happened when she thought too deeply about her mom and Rory's jokes. People always said she took things way too literally. Cindy didn't understand why people didn't just outright say what they mean.
After a moment or two of putting the tennis cube on to her preferred settings, Cindy squared her shoulders, before walking away to get into place. Ok. First day of taking her hobby seriously. She could do this.
The first of the balls was released, with Cindy quick to attain the direction and making it to the ball at once. Two more came in quick succession, her strikes a little clumsy but ultimately effective. Cindy cursed under her breath, hesitating for a second too long and just missing the next ball. Fuck. The next one was even worse, shooting out so fast it somehow hit her in the eye. "AHHHH!" Cindy cursed, dropping her racket on to the floor. She threw herself on to the floor, muttering a string of curse words as she watched the rest of the tennis balls fly over her head. She took a second to gather her breath, fists clenched as she forced her mind to settle down. It was like when someone dropped something into a puddle, it took a little while, but eventually the surface would settle once more. She just needed a second or two to curse the existence of tennis balls and her easily led astray focus, then she would get right back up.
"Rough day?"
Seemingly no longer alone in her little area, Cindy scrambled to her feet at once to find a blonde girl roughly the same age as her with a tilted head, staring curiously at her. She was comically small, about 5ft tall, with such a muscular physique that Cindy knew could only belong to a seasoned player. She was certainly dressed to play. Her blonde hair was tied up into a perfect ponytail, and she was wearing a pale blue tank top and matching shorts with hydrangeas on them, not to mention sneakers so pristine that they were clearly new. Cindy spared a glance at her own ancient pair and simply sighed enviously. She looked perfect. The picture of a tennis player. Not to mention totally adorable. The girl had freckles for god's sake. And oh dear god she hadn't said anything for over a minute!
Cindy shook herself out of her stupor, allowing herself to smile at her own idiocy. "You could say that. I'm little out of it."
The blonde twirled the racket she was holding in her hand round and round, almost like a nervous habit. She laughed at Cindy's response, her free hand flying to her mouth as a light little sound escaped that seemed to twirl over to Cindy and melt into her. It was only in that second that Cindy registered that her tennis racket was bejeweled with various coloured rhinestones around the rim. She noticed her looking and pointed to them. "You like?"
"I love!" Cindy grinned, drawing closer to admire the racket. "Did you do it yourself?"
Blonde girl nodded, beaming enthusiastically at her words. "Who says you can't make tennis glamorous?" She held out her hand, wearing a smile so sweet and sunny-like that Cindy's heart couldn't help but warm at the sight. "I'm Charlotte McCrae."
Years from now, Cindy would measure her life in two different halfs. There was before Charlotte, and then there was after Charlotte. Her life hadn't truly started until she'd casually came strolling in, armed with all her bejewelled personal items, bizarre quirks and not to mention her douchebag brother.
"Cindy Gilmore." She shook her hand, before gesturing vaguely to her failed setup. "I was-"
"Flailing." Charlotte nodded, still smiling.
Cindy snorted, shaking her head to herself. Straight to the point then. She had to admire it. "Yeah I was. My focus is a little off."
"I so know what you mean," Charlotte admitted, a touch of embarrassment entering her tone. As she scratched nervously at her neck, Cindy could see that she'd painted each of her nails in various shades of neon colours and stuck little gems on top. "I've ah- Been out of practice for a while. I just had a round outside and it was poxy!" She declared, her green eyes wide with alarm. "I was like Bambi out on the ice."
"Poxy?" Cindy quirked a brow.
"Worthless, lousy, rotten, no good." Charlotte supplied, not missing a beat. "It's British. I picked it up from Stepmother Number Five."
Cindy blinked in surprise. "You've had five stepmothers?" Jeez!
"Seven actually. Dad booted Stepmother Number Seven over the summer, so he's out on the prowl again." Charlotte made a series of gagging noises that told Cindy exactly what she thought of the idea. "Hey I was on my way out, but do you fancy a game? This is my first day back playing and so far I've only gotten to play the odd stranger or the cube of terror." She asked, all in one breath.
"You've been asking strangers to play you?" Cindy softened at that. She remembered being that kid during her early days of school when she hadn't been as confident, just longing to be noticed and included. She got the sense that this girl was searching for a similar kind of connection.
"Yeah!" Charlotte confirmed, with all the eagerness of a Golden Retriever in search of a friend. "Only you'll be less stranger-ish since we're introduced and all."
This girl was certainly a character, but Cindy wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She seemed nice enough. "Sure. In or out?"
"Out if you don't mind, I like the air today, it's like a cold soothing blanket after a game."
The two girls headed out to the outdoor court, with Charlotte practically bouncing with excitement once they got into place and decided Cindy would serve. The game started out normal enough, and it turned into quite the fun time. Charlotte was good. Crazy good. She kept her on her toes, and her swings were fast and automatic like they were just a natural reflex, all without being obvious as to what direction she was next going to send the ball.
But as the two were laughing happily, still sending the ball back and forth, Charlotte spoke once more. "You're telegraphing some of your moves."
Cindy froze at that, Charlotte's serve flying straight over her head. "I what?"
"You're telegraphing some of your moves." She stated matter of factly, like she hadn't just stuck a pin into Cindy's pride. "It's when-"
"Yeah I know what telegraphing means. I-" Cindy huffed out a breath, setting her racket down and walking over to meet Charlotte by the net. She crossed her arms, tapping her finger erratically against the net pole as she willed her voice to not sound as defensive as she felt. "I thought I was good. Decent at least."
"Oh no you are!" Charlotte argued. "Especially given that you've not had professional training."
"How-" Cindy shook her head, her shoulders tensing. "Well how long have you had professional training?"
"Twelve years. And I won the Connecticut doubles tournament three years in a row."
Ok maybe she knew a thing or two.
"And I said some, not all of your moves." Charlotte corrected gently, seemingly oblivious to her emotions as she wagged her finger at her. "You should try reading my moves more, and work on your neutral stance."
"Ok." Cindy blew out a breath.
Panic fell over Charlotte's face as she finally clocked Cindy's tone. "Oh no! I've made you mad, haven't I?" She threw aside her racket and hopped over the net, her alarm evident as she drew close to Cindy. "I'm such a flibbertigibbet! Oh and we were totally having a good time too! I'm so sorry! I don't have that filter thing between your brain and your mouth and- AHHH!"
Cindy jumped back in alarm as Charlotte let out a high-pitched scream, causing several people nearby to stare. "What the-"
"AHHHHH!"
"Charlotte!"
"AHHHHH! Sorry, technique I learned from Stepmother Number Two. It's supposed to allieviate anger and anxiety." She explained, bouncing nervously on the spot as she shook her hands erratically.
"Well you're increasing mine! Look-" Cindy grabbed Charlotte's arms, forcing her to look directly at her. "It's fine. Really."
"I'm sorry." She apologised, her face crumbling like an admonished child. "I was just trying to help."
Cindy's damaged pride deflated at once at her expression. Oh god she was being such a bitch wasn't she? Cindy couldn't help but think of chapter forty-three in Emma, when Emma had insulted Miss Bates and hurt the poor lady's feelings without even meaning to. She rewound the last few seconds of their interaction in her head and found herself cringing internally. Was her ego that big that the tiniest bit of constructive criticism could tear her down? Maybe this was what had sunk her into the funk she was in. She was always so sure that she was right, and that everything and everyone else was wrong. And when someone offered her an alternate path, she realised, she dug her heels in. And nothing changed. School still sucked, she was probably on track to getting rejected from every college she applied to and not being able to study the things she actually cared about, she was still anxious about money, and her mom still liked Rory better than her. Maybe Rory was right. Maybe instead of shunning change, she needed to embrace it with open arms, no matter how much it scared her.
And maybe she needed to start by taking the free advice from the girl who clearly knew more about tennis than she did.
"No." Cindy shook her head, retracting her hands from Charlotte's arms. "I'm the one who's sorry. I was being a Grade A bitch right now and you were just being nice. Critique is good, it's how we learn, right?"
"Oh don't worry about it." Charlotte waved her off, offering her a relieved smile. "I fall into teaching mode out of habit. I just got a little carried away." She explained, a sad expression crossing her face. "I don't really have anybody to play with anymore and I guess I got a little overly excited."
"What do you mean?" Cindy frowned.
"Oh nothing." Charlotte dismissed, her voice a little too light and breezy. Whatever it was, Cindy sensed it was a subject she didn't want broached.
"Charlotte?" Cindy broached her tentatively, "Can we start over? I'll dial back on the tantrums I swear."
Charlotte seemed shocked by the request, opening her mouth to say something but falling short. "Really?" That one word packed in so much hope at once that Cindy got the sense that this girl had been on her own for quite some time.
"Yeah I-" Cindy let out a sheepish laugh. "I wouldn't mind having a tennis friend. I have to blackmail or nag everyone else in my life to play with me."
"It's illogical, right?" Charlotte exclaimed, "It's like the best sport!"
"I know right!" Cindy cried, in equal disbelief. "And you get all the benefits of working out while getting to crush your opponent's hopes and dreams!"
Charlotte giggled at her words, shaking her head to herself. "You're a funny girl Cindy Gilmore."
Cindy giggled along with her, surprised at the ease she slipped into around her. Though she'd only known the girl for an hour, Cindy found that she really liked her. Communicating with her was so blessedly straightforward and easy in a way she'd never felt with anyone else before.
"So my form..." Cindy began. "Mind showing me what's up with it?"
"Sure." Charlotte nodded, gesturing for her to get into position. Charlotte pretended she had her racket in hand and mimed doing a kick serve, letting out a "AHA!" as Cindy pretended to react to it. "There! Right there!"
Charlotte went on to her knees, poking Cindy in the ankle before hopping straight back up. "You shifted your weight about a millisecond before the serve."
"A millisecond?"
"Nothing that can't be corrected, but if you don't any pro worth their salt would clock it." Charlotte explained, as she demonstrated her own perfect neutral stance to her. "You've got some good natural talent but it badly needs some polishing up if you ever want to compete in anything. Talent means nothing if you don't put in the work."
Cindy crossed her legs, her mind running a mile a second as a lightbulb appeared over her head. "Hey, I have an idea. What if you do the refining?"
Charlotte perked up at that. "You want me to teach you?"
"Think about it." Cindy urged, desperate for her to agree. This could be so perfect for the both of them. "I need someone to get me out of my clumsy amateur stage, you want someone to play with, it's a win win!"
A contemplative look crossed over the other girl's face. "You pose an interesting bargain."
"We could make a schedule! I'd have to quit one of my jobs to make it work, but well-" Cindy shrugged, a fizzy sense of excitement buzzing through her veins as she smiled hopefully at Charlotte. "Even if I completely flop as a tennis player in the long run, it'd be pretty freaking fun."
A dazzling grin broke out over Charlotte's face, her whole expression lighting up. "You're on!" She exclaimed, launching herself forward to envelop Cindy into a hug.
Startled but touched by the sweet move, Cindy found herself chuckling as she hugged her back.
