Chapter Text
It was at Madeline Lynn’s annual pink party that everything began to unravel. The invitation—on thick pink paper with gold and turquoise swirls—had declared it to be the last great luncheon of the summer. Rory sat and stared around Madeline’s backyard at clustered tables covered in pink plaid cloths and at the girls around said tables. They were all wearing pink except for Paris Gellar, who had the nerve to arrive in lavender (Madeline’s angry whispers carried clear across the lawn), and Kaitlyn Winthrop, who was technically wearing magenta. This seems to rile Madeline even more, because while we all know that Paris’s dress was a big official screw you to the entire pink party construct, Kaitlyn doesn’t seem to realize that she’s committed a faux pas.
“Someone get that girl a colour wheel,” Madeline hissed angrily to Louise Grant, sitting to Rory’s left. “Someone get her a Pantone booklet because magenta is not pink. We all know magenta is not pink, right?” She looked at Rory. “Right?”
“abso-tootin-lutely!” Rory declared loudly. It’s quiet for a split second, and then a laugh escaped from Louise. Madeline doesn’t laugh, but her lips twitched in amusement. “Yes. Good. Thank you, Rory. Glad we’re all on the same page.”
In truth, they were rarely all on the same page. More often than not, they were all on one page and Rory on a completely different one. It couldn’t be helped most of the time. Society itself put them on different pages. They drove range rovers and had celebrity deejays at their sweet sixteens and Rory, well, let’s just say did not. But she doesn’t say any of this to Madeline fearing she might fling a tray of cookies at her. Instead, she watches as Louise pats Madeline’s back.
“You need to breathe, okay?” She said. “Eat a macaroon. They have lavender in them, right? That’s supposed to be calming.”
“Lavender just makes me think of Paris, which makes me enraged,” Madeline grunts.
Everyone looks across the yard to where Paris is seated with Francie Jarvis. Together, she and Francie held the titles of class president three years running (Paris), the most popular girl in their grade (Francie), and the cutest couple in their school (collectively). Though “cutest” isn’t quite right. Anyone who knew Paris Gellar wouldn’t use the word cute to describe anything relating to Paris Gellar. Objectively, she could traditionally be deemed cute. But she was ruthless and unforgiving and, some would even say, ill-mannered and incredibly unpleasant. Somehow, this didn’t seem to affect her political standing, but then again, that often seems to be the case in the real world as well.
But Francie and Paris have been the longest-enduring couple on record during their time at the Chilton Preparatory School, and so they are automatically termed “cutest,” because that’s shorter than “longest-enduring couple on record during their time at the Chilton Preparatory School.”
Rory saw them once—well, she’s seen them lots of times— but once, after school, she saw them sitting on the low wall outside the lit building, sharing a pair of earbuds and listening to something on one of their phones. Their heads were bent together, and then all of a sudden Francie started dancing in her spot, mouthing along with the words to whatever song it was. Paris looked up at her, smiled, and then looked back at the phone. Francie started bopping harder, lip-synching more emphatically, pointing at Paris. Paris ducked her head, blushed, focused on the screen until Francie got to her feet, took Paris’s hands, and pulled her up, trying to get her to jump around. Paris looked flustered but … endeared. Fond in a way Rory had never seen her look. When Paris finally relented and joined in the dancing, the earbud jerked right out of her ear. She scrambled for it, accidentally yanking the other out of Frankie’s ear. They both ended up bent over laughing, leaning on each other for support.
It was sweet—that’s why it stuck with Rory. A rare moment where Paris didn’t seem completely steely but instead kind of awkward and fumble and smitten. So maybe “cutest” still means cutest, even where she’s involved. Right now, Francie was chatting with Lem, laughing behind one hand as Lem gestures animatedly, while Paris looks for all the world like she’s waiting in an airport terminal and her flight has just been cancelled. In a sea of pink, she was unrelentingly purple.
At Rory’s table, Louise was still trying to calm Madeline. “Deep breaths.”
“I just want everything to be perfect,” Madeline said, eyes wide and strangely earnest as she looks around the table at each of them. “Is it? Do you like the food? Are you having fun?”
They all affirmed the quality of the food and the fun they were having. Rory, too, nodded empathically. Madeline continued, “I know it’s silly, but it’s just, you know. Senior year and all. Everything we do is sort of the last time we get to do it. So it should be perfect, right?”
Everyone doubles down on the reassurances, and finally, Madeline seems satisfied. “Okay. Okay, good.” She stood promptly; smoothes down the front of her dress, takes a deep breath, and then heads off to the next table. Rory adjusted her dress as well, which was borrowed from her mother who winked at her, “What kind of party is this again?”
Truth be told, Rory would rather be at her home reading Virginia Woolf or watching reruns of Fuller house while stuffing lots of junk food in her mouth than attend a Chilton event. But ever since Headmaster Charleston had warned Rory that she wouldn’t get into Harvard if her social skills weren’t improved, Lorelai and Rory made it their life’s mission to bond with anything and everything that had any relation to Chilton. And Madeline’s Pink party was one of those bonding adventures.
Rory excused herself from the table and stepped aside to call her mother. But when it reached Lorelai’s voicemail, Rory just assumed her mother was busy working at the inn and dropped her a detailed message of everything that had happened until then.
The rest of the luncheon went well, much to Madeline’s relief. They ate fancy finger foods, toasted each other with a fizzy pink punch. There were even speeches filled with assurances that this was going to be the “best year ever” and a ton of light applause. Francie stood at one point and thanked Madeline for hosting. When she finished her toast, she turned to Paris with a smile. “Do you want to add something, babe?”
They shared a look—in the silence, Francie’s expression shifted from hopeful to imploring—until finally, Paris pushed her chair back. She cleared her throat. “Careless tourism and destructive fishing practices are destroying our world’s coral reefs,” she said, and then took a sip of her drink.
Rory can’t tell if that was a joke. Like, admittedly one probably shouldn’t joke about the destruction of our world’s coral reefs. A few people chuckle uncomfortably anyway. Paris sits abruptly. Francie is still standing, her glass raised. The look on her face is stricken, but somehow she manages to recover a smile. “Thank you again, Madeline,” she said. “This is … a great way to end the summer.”
And that was the last of the speeches.
Rory excused herself to visit the restroom before she headed home. Madeline’s mom pointed in the direction of the bathroom, but once she got inside the house, realisation dawned upon her that directions “to the left and across from the music room” meant nothing to her. She had never been here before. So she just headed and barged into the first door she came upon. It was a bedroom.
Lucky for her, it was a bedroom that had a bathroom. Rory was almost done when she heard sounds from the outer room: voices approaching and then the closing of the bedroom door; sealing the voices inside.
“—believe you would act like that.”
“I didn’t want to make a speech. I thought that was obvious.”
“Coral reefs? Seriously?”
“Tell me we shouldn’t be more concerned about the state of the coral reefs.”
Francie and Paris.
Rory had always thought they were a good pair. People don’t like Paris, generally, but they respect that she gets shit done. Conversely, everyone loves Francie. She’s friendly and kind, neutral, good through and through. She softens Paris. And Paris gives her an edge. What’s that saying—an iron fist in a velvet glove? Paris is the former, and Francie is the latter.
“I’m not saying it’s not true, I’m saying it’s not relevant to the situation. This isn’t a freaking geo club meeting!” Francie paused, “You couldn’t think of one nice thing - about Madeline, or the summer, or school, or anything. One nice thing. You could’ve said the punch is good.”
“The punch tastes like Windex.”
“At the very least, would it have been so hard to put on a pink dress?”
“I’m not gonna do something just because someone tells me to.”
“You do tons of things because someone tells you to! You wear shoes in restaurants! You obey seat belt laws!”
“There’s a big difference between doing something to prevent myself from flying through a car windshield and doing something to satisfy a meaningless colour scheme at a meaningless party that neither of us actually care about.”
“I care about it,” Francie said, and something in her voice sounds frayed. “But that doesn’t mean anything to you. What I want. You never even ask me. You just assume. You always— always—just assume.”
Silence follows. And in this silence, Rory realized several things —first, that this was not just a little spat about a speech or a dress code. And second, that her temporal window for stepping out of the bathroom and announcing her presence has entirely closed. She was in it for the long haul.
“Do you understand though? About the dress? And the party? Do you get that it’s important to me? And, like, how something that is important to me should be important to you, too?”
“It’s stupid though,” Paris said. “This whole thing is stupid. If it was something that actually cared, I would—” she cuts off, starts again. “You know I would…I don’t know.” Paris sounds sullen. “I would act like I cared more.”
It’s quiet. Behind Rory, a bead of water drips from the faucet into the sink. And then there are footsteps in the outer room. She can’t tell which of them has moved toward the other. Or if they’ve moved away. When Francie spoke again, her voice is thick. “I love you, Paris,” she says. “But you’re the most selfish person I’ve ever met.”
By now, Rory has her ear pressed into the door. She’s only human, after all, and this was possibly the best bit of drama she had unwittingly stumbled onto in the whole of her high school life.
“I love you,” Francie said again, crying now. “But I want you to be different. I want, I wa—I want you to be better than you are.”
***
Rory had dated a guy named Dean Forester for a while at the beginning of High School. They were even going to Chilton Formal together, but he broke up with her just two weeks shy. They were sitting near Rory’s favourite tree in Stars Hollow. He was laying his head on her lap while she read him extracts of Sense and Sensibility. Quite suddenly, he declared “So I don’t know, I just think maybe we should break up, you know?”
Rory put down her Austen. It seems like she had missed out on an entire conversation. It was only a few weeks ago when Dean was building her a car and professing his love for her. They had broken up briefly when she refused to say it back but they made up. They had worked hard and this wasn’t going according to her plan. He continued, “I just think that when you’re with someone, you should … feel something. Right?”
“You don’t feel anything with me?” Rory asked, confused. He did say I love you a couple of weeks ago, she didn’t definitely imagine. What’s he on now?
“I feel regular with you,” he said. “But I don’t feel … you know. Well, I mean, if you knew, then you’d understand, and you’d want me to feel that with someone else. And if you don’t know, then that means you don’t feel it either, and so we probably shouldn’t be together anyway. Moreover, it’s hard with us being in different schools”
But they stayed in the same town. Very small town. And she attended the class the same hours as him, she couldn’t believe him. How could you feel regular with anyone? He had just sort of managed to negate every sweet thing that they ever had together. Like it was all fake. One-sided. And now looking back, everything that was massive to her, everything that was meaningful—to him it was just regular.
***
But Francie Jarvis just took the cake in the breakup department. If Rory had been in Paris’ place, she would have disintegrated right there in the spot. Paris did no such thing. She just speaks, after a long pause, her voice in stark contrast to Francie’s. It’s calm. Crisp. No hint of tears.
“Are you breaking up with me?” She said.
Francie doesn’t reply.
“Are. You. Breaking. Up. With. me?” Paris repeats, razor-sharp, stressing on each word.
“Yes,” Francie said.
Rory is holding her breath; Waiting for—something. A reaction. A movement. A sound. Anything. And then a sound comes. A loud one in fact—the very Clear and deliberate peal of a bell. For a split second, it doesn’t make any sense. Francie breaks up with Paris and Paris responds by whipping out a Handbell? Then Rory realized.
Her phone.
Rory fumbled through her bag. Purses are inter-dimensional —particularly when you’re trying to find something important. She finally found the phone, but three more beeps followed in the intervening time—the silence that followed was deafening. It was her mother who was responding to her voicemail in small bits. What? Paris didn’t wear pink? Coral Reefs?
Until there’s the sound of footsteps that are most definitely approaching and a firm knock on the door directly into her face. Then it goes right back into terrible. “Hello?”
It’s Francie. Rory stayed silent. Maybe if she stays perfectly still, perfectly silent, they’ll think that they’d heard wrong.
“We heard your phone,” Francie stated.
“How do you know it wasn’t your phone?” Rory replied. She immediately squeezed her eyes shut. She took a deep breath before finally opening the door.
The thing about moments is that just because a moment is one, doesn’t mean it’s a good one. They are not all special, or cherished, like picture frames and embellished scrapbook inserts would have you believe. This is more of the painfully awkward variety. Rory, clutching her phone in the bathroom doorway, looking like she was gonna be mauled at any minute. Francie, her face red, cheeks wet, eyes puffy. And Paris Geller looked at her with a quiet, smouldering, single-minded rage.
Francie speaks first. “We didn’t know anyone was in here,” she said, and she’s clearly putting effort into sounding something close to normal, though she doesn’t bother to wipe the tears tracking down her cheeks.
“I didn’t know anyone was out here. I didn’t hear anything," Rory said, even though it’s a lie compounded by another lie.
The silence was unbearable.
So Rory did what she did best, or what she did worst, —her greatest strength was also her greatest weakness; her speech - “I had the faucet on...really loud. And I pee pretty loud. I’m surprised you guys didn’t hear me; it was like Niagara Falls in here. Just really … very loud in volume. A lot of … liquids … flowing in a … noisy fashion.”
Francie blinked at Rory, clearly caught off guard, but Paris's eyes only narrowed, the rage intensifying. She had to get out of there. “I'll just … leave you guys to it.… not that I know what it is, not that I heard anything,” Rory hesitated, and tried to leave, but Francie moved to the door first.
“No, I'm going,” she said, and then quickly walks out. Leaving Rory and Paris. Alone. Paris crossed immediately to Rory and blocks her way “What did you hear?”
“Nothing. I heard nothing.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You are, you’re terrible at it. If you go back out there and tell everyone—if you tell them—” she faltered. Her eyes swiftly filling with tears; her lower lip quivering. Her voice is thick when she next spoke: “I will ruin you.”
And then she turned and left.
“God, I can’t believe she would do that'' Lane Kim exclaimed. Lane has been Rory’s best friend ever since her childhood. They’ve potentially gone through everything together – first days of schools, being teased by horrible Chuck Presby, having first crushes... Practically everything. But then Rory got into Chilton and Lane stayed in stars hollow high – a potentially life-changing event in their life which Rory for sure thought was gonna be the end of their friendship but it wasn't, they were stronger than before and she loved it.
“I miss you,” Rory said softly. Stars hollow high was dramatic, yes. But not to the extent Chilton was. As much as she tried, she couldn’t get her mind off Paris Gellar’s threat.
Lane laughed, “Not all of us can be smarties. Some of us have to be humble and hide their CDs under the floorboard” she paused, “Are you excited for the start of the new year?”
Rory thought for a second, “Weirdly, I kind of am. I am sick and tired of seeing Dean and Lindsey all over town... Flaunting. School is gonna be a good change.”
Lane shot a sympathetic look towards Rory and wrapped her in a hug. “Is Dave gonna be here soon?” Lane asked.
Lane, Dave and Rory were pretty much glued together. They met in grade 1 and have pretty much been inseparable since then. Rory shrugged, “No, he’s probably working”
Lane’s face kind of shrank and before Rory could pick up on that, Lane moved to the stereo and started to play her favourite Bowie album.
“You’re gonna love him” Madeline commented, leaning towards the lockers while Rory is keeping her books in. Rory grinned, while Madeline continued “I know. I know. It’s ‘cause of that stupid...tree. You’ve grown repulsive to love but you HAVE to know he’s not worth it”
“You’re so much more than him” Madeline followed Rory as she made her way into the dining area “Like you could do 1000 times better... 1000 times cute”
When Rory rolled her eyes, Madeline is annoyed that her friend doesn’t believe she could bag a greater man, “Like Heath Ledger cute”
And when Rory is indifferent to that, Madeline winked “Or Jess Mariano cute”
Oh, Jess Mariano. No way can their names ever come together. Because Jess Mariano was Jess Mariano. He was popular, he was friends with everybody – a classic case of 'boys want to be him, girls want to be with him' kind of situation. If only they were in a movie and Rory had been wearing glasses, maybe she could take it off and show Jess she was actually pretty. But this was real life and she didn’t want love in her life.
It wasn’t like Rory didn’t like him. No one could hate him even if they tried to. He just had that kind of personality. But that didn’t necessarily mean she liked him...like that. She kind of started paying attention to him since the… incident but for some reason when she heard this, Rory didn’t meet Madeline’s gaze, she bowed her head attempting to hide her cheeks which were now as red as an Elmo doll. Madeline’s eyes brightened as she began to pull Rory to accompany her to the courtyard.
Rory didn’t really want to go. Especially after Madeline had just seen Rory blush at the mention of the name Jess. Madeline would meet Louise there and then all they would talk about is how Rory blushed at the mere mention of Mariano’s name. Which was not true – it was the cold weather that made her cheeks tinted and that was it. Madeline continued leading Rory when –
Oh god, Jess
“How was your summer, Madeline?” Jess asked as Madeline entered the yard “Was it great?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yeah, it was awesome.” She looked at Louise. “I mean, we mostly just hung out. But it was really fun.”
While Jess was a delight to be around, there was also Tristan lurking. Who in a word is, repulsive? He plunged himself towards Rory as soon as she came in, “You know, Mary. I knew you would come around one day…”
“Get out of my way, Tristan”
“I can’t figure out why we are not friends? I think it’s because I make you nervous”
“I think it’s because you can’t learn my name”
“Well, then I don’t need to ask Lou how her summer was. Must’ve been the best if she was spending time with you.” Jess talked to Louise but his eyes only on the fiery girl who was burning Dugray. When finally Rory met his gaze, he asked “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh, this is Rory,” Madeline introduced.
“Third wheel extraordinaire,” Rory murmured as she reached for the hand Jess had extended towards her. His grin widened as he clasped her hand. “Nice to meet you. How was your summer?”
Are you personally responsible for the quality of everyone’s summer? Rory wanted to ask, but she didn’t; instead, she just replied “Very average”
His eyes are bright. “Good. I guess? Is that good?”
Rory just shrugged. She truly didn’t know what to say. She was a Gilmore, for god sake. They were known for talking and now she was speechless? Instead of focusing on that, Rory nudged Madeline, tapping at her wristwatch. Jess flashed them a dazzling smile as they prepared to leave, while Madeline gave Louise a quick peck on the lips, and then another, and another. “It was great meeting you,” Jess smiled at Rory.
“You too,” Rory mumbled, clearly hiding the fact that they had actually met before.
It was Mr Medina’s English class. Rory always enjoyed his classes. Especially since she had begun hanging around him at her home. She was sceptical at first when her mother started dating her teacher but now she was used to it. Max seemed like he was part of the family. Well, he was an incredible teacher too, “Alright class, it is a group activity. Go find yourselves a teammate and come and collect your topics”
Rory glanced around the class. Louise partnered up with Madeline, obviously. She found Jess at the back of the class who waved in her direction as she met his eyes. He was teamed up with his best friend Matt. She heard a small voice call from behind. It was Henry Cho, “Hey Rory, I am paired up with Brad but I can ask him to find someone else if you want”
Henry Cho was Lane’s ex. They didn’t end on good terms but Rory and Henry always found a way to be civil with one another. Rory smiled, “That’s okay, Henry. I’ll find someone else”
The whole class seemed to have partnered up. Mr Medina called out, “Alright – Paris, Rory seems to be out of a partner. Maybe you could do it together”
Rory and Paris, groaned “No”
Paris was the first to stand up, “Please, Mr Medina. Not her”
Mr Medina just smiled and looks at Rory whose expression reads I-would-rather-give-up-burgers-rather-than-be-Paris’s-partner. Rory rolled her eyes, “For the first time in my life, I’m agreeing with Paris – Please don’t”
Paris added, “I’ll be fine on my own”
Mr Medina doesn’t reprimand Paris. He cast his eyes over the whole class and said curtly “If you’d prefer, I can always assign partners —”
The class lets out a collective groan of protest that not even Paris can withstand. She barked, “Fine, Whatever”
***
As soon as Rory got home, she dropped her bag on the couch and crashes next to her mother, “Mom, your boyfriend is out of control”
Lorelai sat up, “What happened, honey?”
Rory narrated the whole partnering incident. Lorelai ended up promising Rory to talk to Max. So that evening when Max came home, Lorelai followed him around the house, “Why’d you partner up Rory with and I quote evil Paris?”
Max let down the water bottle on the dining table, “She’s a poor kid, Lorelai. She hardly sees her family, she’s just... lonely. That’s why she lashes out. I was hoping she and Rory could be friends”
When Lorelai started to protest, he continued “Rory’s a kind kid. I am hoping she will rub off on her. Moreover, it’s just one assignment – and that will be the last one I will be pairing them together. Okay?”
***
The next morning, Rory asked Paris for her phone number so they could coordinate on the work but Paris walked away. Rory rolled her eyes and followed her. Paris stopped at the library and occupied an empty table. When Rory is standing there, looking confused, Paris snaps at her to take a seat. After about two hours of squabbling about each line in their topic, Rory was exhausted. Paris, who has given up too, sighs “Forget it, I’ll do it”
“Alone?”
“I’m doing your work too, be grateful”
“Paris, this is a group activity. Group. That means we have to do it together –“
“You know what; I can’t hear you right now. I’ll just do the first part of the assignment and send it to you. You complete it” Paris picked up her books and left the school.
It was late evening when Paris sent in Rory her work, which was riddled with a plethora of information, some necessary and most unnecessary. Rory groaned looking at the 60 pages Paris had sent her. There was no way she could go through everything and wrote hers too. It was difficult to write her part without basing it off Paris’ argument. Rory just skimmed as much as she could and wrote her part of the assignment.
***
“I wanted to speak with you both privately before I hand papers back,” Mr Medina said quietly, though they're the only ones in the room and have taken seats in the desks closest to his. “I’ve had you both before. I know you’re very bright students.” He picked up a paper off the stack on his desk. “But I was surprised by the quality of the work you handed in.”
Rory glanced at the bright red D printed at the top of the page, and it sets off an instinctive reaction in her brain. She was NOT a D student. She got it once at the beginning of Chilton but she couldn't afford that now. She had to keep perfect scores in order to get into Harvard. Any little screw up could put that in jeopardy.
“What exactly are the issues?” Paris asked curtly.
“I think the main thing is a real lack of cohesion,” Mr Medina said, and then outlined a number of other problems that made Rory regret Paris asking. She stared down at her desk. She could see Paris in her peripheral vision, sitting up straight, her hands clasped in her lap. When Mr Medina finally finished, Paris spoke: “Is there anything we can do to make it up? A revision? An extra credit assignment?”
Mr Medina pursed his lips for a moment. And then spoke: “Yes, in fact. There is.”
As soon as they stepped out of the classroom, Paris sneered at Rory “This is all your fault”
Rory was not ready for another fight with Paris. She was already exhausted from staying up all night for the assignment; somehow pissed at Max; and really really needed a coffee, “How is it my fault?”
“You had to not get a partner so now I’m stuck with you”
“You’re not stuck with me. I’m stuck with you. I had a partner, but Mr Medina –“ Rory tried to clarify. She would have found someone, eventually. She wasn’t technically lying.
“Well, your mother should have thought twice before screwing the teacher” Paris spat at Rory. Rory’s face shrunk. A few days ago, Paris had seen Max and Lorelai kissing in one of the classrooms and she had become the object of the whole school’s ridicule. Rory started to walk away. But she remembers how Max explained to them that Paris was just lonely and her “rudeness” was just a mask to cover her loneliness. “At least we get a chance to make it up,” Rory sighed.
Their next unit was Shakespeare. And conveniently, the drama department at Chilton is doing a midsummer night’s dream as their fall production. So in addition to rewriting the paper, Paris and Rory had been “strongly urged” to audition for extra credit.
“We shouldn’t be in this position in the first place. We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t messed everything up.”
“I didn’t know what you were trying to say! Your thesis made no sense, and you didn’t give me enough time to rework it.” Rory argued.
“Like I’d let you rewrite something I wrote. Like I’d trust you with that.”
Before Rory could help it, words were falling out of her mouth “I don’t get why you don’t like me. You don’t even know me enough to not like me.”
“I don’t need to know you.
“Just because I—” overheard you getting brutally dumped.
“Because you what?” Paris challenged.
Rory remains mum. This was obviously a sore spot for Paris and she didn’t need, already pissed Paris to reach a new whole level of rage. Paris spoke again, “This is your fault, if you had finished earlier, we could’ve fixed it, I could’ve fixed it. But now we’re being sound of music-ed, and it’s all your fault.
“We’re what?”
“Sound of Music - they get in trouble, and the English teacher makes them work on the school play?”
“Are you sure you have seen the sound of music?”
“You know the policy here, don’t you?” Paris rolled her eyes “If you audition, you have to work on the play. So it doesn't matter if we get parts or not, we have to work on the show. One bad paper and we are ruined.”
“it’s not … ruined” Maybe not completely
“Yeah, maybe if you don’t have anything else going on in your life, but in case you haven’t noticed, I actually do stuff around here,” Paris said, folding her arms.
“Hey, I do stuff,” Rory justified.
“What do you do?” Paris asked, in such a mean tone, she could practically play a heather “I mean, besides take up space. What do you actually do?”
Rory opened her mouth to answer but doesn’t say anything. She had never met anyone with such a highly concentrated meanness in them.
“What?” Paris spat. Rory is not intimidated—well, maybe a little—but it’s more of a bone-deep desire to avoid confrontation. Fighting back is not worth it at this moment. Paris’s lip curled in disgust, and she turned and walked away.
All of the next morning was spent by Rory trying to fake sick so that she wouldn’t have to go to the audition. Which Lorelai believed up until Max came in and told her about the audition. Lorelai shook fake sleeping Rory, “Hey kid, Get up”
“Go away, Mom. I feel sick”
“Is the new teenage definition of ‘I feel sick’ is ‘I am chicken’?”
“Mom, I am terrible, I’ll only go make a fool of myself. Bigger than what I already am” Rory groaned and plumped into her sheets again. Lorelai pulled it out, “But you’re making memories. Ten years from now, when you’re travelling the world, bathing in champagne and talking in riddles, you’ll remember this day and laugh. Did I ever tell you about my Cats audition?”
Rory looked up curious.
“I performed the final number of grease. I was dressed up as both Olivia Newton-John and Travolta. Went all out. I had no talent either. But it was so much fun. Miss. Chapman had to kick me out of the theatre and then your father and I went on our first date”
Lorelai hugged Rory, “You never know, maybe you’ll meet some cute boys... “
Rory huffed, as she got out of the bed, to find some clothes “Only thing I’ll be meeting is Paris’ Wrath. I’m going, Just remember – if anything happens to me, I’m blaming you”
***
Rory seemed pretty fearless but she didn’t really want to face Paris. She had successfully stayed out of her way all through the day. But it was auditions time and there she was! With no escape. Rory ducked behind a nearby statue that has enough room behind to completely hide her. Rory crouched even further, just in case, when someone whispers in her ear “What are we doing?”
Rory almost jumped. She turned around to find Jess Mariano; looking at her, eyes alight. “Are you hiding from somebody?”
It takes Rory a moment to recover, not just from the scare but from the full force of Jess Mariano’s Jess Mariano-ness. She swallowed “Death. I thought it was the grim reaper sneaking up on me.”
A grin split on his face, he offered “Should I create a diversion? “I’m very good at that.”
“It's fine,” Rory muttered as she, once again, sneaked a look out into the hallway. Paris was nowhere to be seen. When she looks back, Jess’ eyes narrow, a bit concerned. “You are hiding from someone. Who is it? What did they do? Or what did you do?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
He evaluated the surroundings for a moment. “Ex-boyfriend?”
Dean Forester was in Stars Hollow High, thankfully. Rory nodded in a no, this time making her eyes onto the giant stage upfront. There was no way he was going there and performing without having a complete mental breakdown. She had found a new respect for theatre people – they had some guts.
“Are you … are you meeting someone here or something?”
“Here behind this statue?” Rory raised her eyebrows. How dense could he be? Cute but dense nonetheless. He replied solemnly, “Yes”
Rory wanted to ask him why he was talking to her... out of everyone. His friends were right there. There were about thirty girls who were out there who would swoon for a hello from Jess Mariano and here he was, talking to her out of the blue. He continued, “Are you auditioning for the play?”
Rory simply nods. God, the dreaded audition. She had kind of practised all night. Well, she tried to practice at least. She couldn’t even learn it off the book. He urged, “Amazing! We’ve got to sign in. You want to go sign in?”
Rory mumbled a quick sure and followed him in. There was truly no escape now. He had to see Paris. She had to audition. She had to make a fool of herself... in front of Jess Mariano.
She followed Jess to the hall. He holds the door open for her, and they approach the teacher sitting at a table inside with a sign-in sheet and a sheaf of forms. They had to rank what jobs in the crew they’d prefer if they’re not cast because Paris was right— they have to work on the production whether or not they get a role in the play. The audition alone guarantees our participation. Funny how they get you like that.
Rory is quickly done with the form. She looks over Jess who is still bent over his, the tip of his tongue stuck between his teeth as he fills it out. She hesitates for a moment, unsure if she had to put the official full stop to their earlier conversation. Instead, she just finds an empty seat and tries to learn her monologue. She mouths the first few lines. The words feel strange enough, but then she remembers that she is also supposed to put some kind of emotion into it. While she is trying to find the right faces to pull while she’s giving her monologue, Jess plops down in the seat across from her.
“What part are you trying for?” He said.
None of them Rory thought. “I am not sure, what about you?”
“I’m going to be Oberon.” Jess declared proudly, running his fingers through his hair. She smiled, “You’re pretty certain about that.”
“I’m the best man for the job.” He smiled, and his cheeks dimple. It makes something in Rory’s heart fuzzy. A smile like that could be weaponized. It’s almost the same feeling the first time Dean had kissed her... Oh god, was she...? She was pulled out of thoughts by him “It’s funny we haven’t met before, did you transfer?”
“No.”
“Do you go to many of the parties?”
“Not many, no.” Rory had to try hard not to laugh. But then she couldn’t help it, she said “We actually have met before.”
He blinked at her, unaware. She continued “At Christmas Bonding Bowling Bonanza. Freshman year”
It had been a source of great stress for Rory at the time. Chilton had held many many events during one course of the academic year but they took it out of the park when they announced the bowling bonanza. It was supposed to be a Christmas Dance but there was a major flooding issue in the school gym and all the school sponsors decided kids must have the Christmas party in the bowling centre. Rory didn’t even want to go to the party. But Lorelai said it would be a good opportunity to get to know the girls at school better. She reminded Rory of the time when Rory went to Bangles concert with Madeline and Louise and that was how she became friends with them
“And you never know,” she said, raising and lowering her eyebrows suggestively. “Could be some cute boys there.” Her eyes widened. “Ooh, or some good party favours!”
Rory did like the idea of good party favours, so she decided to go. But it seemed like the time nature was really upset with them. There was a minor fire due to a popcorn machine and they all had to be evacuated. Rory was in the restroom when the arcade announced that everyone needs to leave the building in an orderly manner. Rory hadn’t heard the announcement. She was quite perplexed to come out and see no one there. Was this some sort of sick joke?
But then, thankfully, Jess had spotted her. He called out to the security who rescued her. As soon as she was out, Jess rushed out to see how she was. He was even gentleman enough to give her his vest. It was weirdly warm and seventy per cent torn. The next day, embarrassed Rory dropped the vest with a note saying Thank you. –RG near his locker and that was the end of that.
She looked at Jess, and she knew that he had no earthly recollection of anything. Let alone being her knight in shining armour, he didn’t even remember his vest. He just blinked at her, friendly and uncomprehending. “I think I’d remember meeting you,” he said, leaning in a bit and flashing her that smile again. He’s either trying to flirt with her, or he’s making fun of her. Really only the latter makes sense “You actually did, though.”
His face fell. “I don’t remember. I’m sorry.”
“There were like a hundred people there,” Rory said, because he looks inexplicably upset, like a little kid who’s dropped an ice cream cone. “It’s not a big deal.”
As he is opening his mouth, probably to argue more, Lem drops by grabbing a chair beside Jess “Is it just me or are there more people here than last year?”
“Worried about the competition?” He smirked.
“Absolutely not,” Lem replied primly. “Hi, Rory. I like your earrings.”
“Thanks. I like your shirt,” Rory said, just to be polite, completely dumbed by the fact that they are all wearing the same shirt. She didn’t smile, just poked Jess lightly on the cheek, right in the spot where his dimple then appears, as if summoned. Lem peers at the crumpled monologue sheet in front of me “Interesting choice, did you practice?”
“Well, I didn’t, like, actually … rehearse. But I read it, at least. That’s something.”
“You’re gonna do great,” Jess smiled at Rory and gives her a double thumbs-up, mouthing the words again. Rory smiled a little. Maybe working on the play wouldn’t suck, after all.
They get called a few at a time to queue up in the hall outside the band room. Seated inside are the drama teacher Miss Hale and Mr Medina. They smiled at Rory, warmly “Whenever you’re ready”
Rory held up her monologue sheet and practically read through the scene. Miss Hale asked gently, “Rory, do you think you could do it without the paper
“No.”
“Well, let’s have another try at it,” Mr Medina said. “This time, I want you to really focus on how Titania must feel here. She’s had a falling out with Oberon, and the world is going haywire as a result of it. She wants peace, but neither of them is willing to give in.”
Rory’s hands shook slightly less this time. A marginal improvement.
“Thank you, Rory,” Miss Hale, said as the scene was finished. Mr Medina too gave a kind smile. Rory left. The next group had already assembled outside. Jess was toward the front, along with Lem and another guy. Jess pushed off the wall when Rory emerged “How’d it go?” He said, holding up one hand. Rory realized she was supposed to high-five it. “Did you nail it?”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
“I’m sure you did awesome.” Jess, replied in a comforting tone. There’s some misplaced faith. Rory mumbled a quick thanks and just when she was about to leave, “Hey, this is Matt,” Jess said, gesturing to the guy behind him, who looks up from his phone. “Do you know Matt?”
“No.” Was she supposed to know a Matt?
“He’s the greatest person I know.”
Matt reached out to shake her hand but looks Jess’s way. “You really got to stop billing me like that. People are gonna be disappointed.”
“You could never disappoint,” Jess said, and even though he’s smiling, Rory gets the feeling he’s not joking. “Matt’s my best friend. And the best person in this whole damn world”
After about a good ten minutes of awkwardness, Rory gestured “So I should probably…”
“Yeah, don’t want to keep you,” Jess said. “Hopefully we both get cast, and then we can hang out at rehearsals.”
“Well, you’ve got Oberon locked down.”
“Maybe you’ll be my queen,” he smiled, leaning in a little and wiggling his eyebrows
“I mean, probably not. If there’s like … a non-speaking role for a tree or something, that’ll probably be me.”
“Hey.” Jess looked suddenly serious. “Don’t sell yourself short.”
Rory smiles and excuses herself. There’s no way she was being cast. After that disaster of an audition, it was certain art in any form was not Rory’s calling.
The cast list had been posted outside the Chilton music room the next morning. Apparently, there are no non-speaking tree roles in a midsummer night’s dream, so Rory found her name towards the bottom, in a list headed in big bold letters with the word crew.
On a few of the other names on the list.
Titania: Francie Jarvis.
Oberon: Jess Mariano.
Hermia: Lem. No surprise there.
Helena: Janet
And toward the bottom, first fairy: Paris Gellar. Huh. Who’d have thought?
* * *
A midsummer night’s dream is really an ensemble show. There’s no singular main character or narrator but a few different groups of characters, all of equal importance. First, there’s the court—the duke and his Lady Hippolyta, as well as some royal hangers-on, who conveniently turn up at the beginning and the end of the show to set the scene, add commentary, and pass judgment.
Then there are the lovers—Hermia, Lysander, Helena, And Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander are madly in love, Demetrius is into Hermia despite it being an entire no-go on Hermia’s side, and Helena is hopelessly into Demetrius, despite it being an entire no-go on Demetrius’s side. Next, there are the mechanicals—a rough-and-tumble group of people tasked with putting on a play for the duke’s impending wedding. And last, there are the fairies—the king, Oberon, and the queen, Titania, and their respective crews. Oberon and Titania are fighting, and the world is all out of whack because of it. Meanwhile, Hermia and Lysander run away to get married when Hermia’s dad says she has to marry Demetrius. Demetrius follows them into the woods because he can’t take no for an answer, and Helena follows him because neither can she.
This all leads to some capital-h hijinks, and then when things are sorted, there’s a play-within-a-play at the end that the mechanicals put on, and it’s all good fun.
Everyone had gathered in the first few rows of the auditorium before the start of rehearsal. Rory spotted Jess and Matt down front with Summer, Francie and Henry Cho. Rory took a seat as far back as she could get and still looked involved and cracked open her copy of the play while they waited for everyone to assemble. She hadn’t been sitting long when someone cleared their throat behind her. It’s Paris. She was seated two rows back, glaring right at Rory. What could I have possibly done? I’m literally just sitting here she thought.
Rory just looks straight ahead. Jess had turned around in his seat, waving at her, smiling. He gestured to her to join them. He was surrounded by people Rory had barely spoken to; it would just be weird for her to insert herself there.
Rory mimed a no. Jess stuck out his bottom lip in a pout, and Rory cracked a smile. But then his attention is drawn somewhere over her shoulder. Lem. And then his attention was completely focussed on her, leaving Rory to form a pit in her stomach.
The cast and crew of midsummer – Come Rock Climbing With Us.
It was Francie’s idea. A first-week-of-rehearsal celebration. She had posted it all over the auditorium notice boards. Rory made the grave mistake of mentioning it to her mom, who was just as enthusiastic about it as she had been about Christmas Bonanza. She didn’t seem to catch the irony of once again telling “a great chance to get to know some of the girls at school” three years later.
“It was just an open-invite thing. I really don’t think anyone will notice if I don’t go. In fact, they’ll notice if I do go.”
Lorelai raised an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”
“I mean, yeah, it kind of goes against my usual thing.”
“What thing?”
“You know. Where I’m not really, like … active in that way. Like in terms of going to events! I don’t need to go to Chilton stuff. I’d rather hang out with Lane.”
“Yes and play loud music and talk endlessly about movies, I know. But it wouldn’t hurt to mix things up. Next year… When you're in Harvard, everything will be a mix-up. You might as well ease into it now, yeah?”
“I don’t even know how to climb,” Rory said, one last attempt.
“You’ll learn, did my sense of adventure not pass onto you?” Lorelai replied simply.
***
So Rory finds herself at a climbing gym on Thursday night. It was a giant warehouse with climbing walls bordering the interior and structures set up in the middle for what she was informed are for bouldering.
“What does that mean?”
“No ropes,”
Those of them who hadn’t climbed before had to take training on how to belay. To Rory’s surprise, Paris was there. They were supposed to be paired up with a person standing next to them – Rory was with someone from the crew named Corey.
The people who’ve been before had already started climbing— Francie hanging from one wall while Jess stands below, belaying her. Matt was next to him, chatting with Jess. Jess was laughing at whatever Matt’s saying, but his head was tilted up, eyeing Francie’s progress. Do not take your eyes off the climber. Do not get distracted. Do not take your hands off the rope. Do not lose focus.
Corey decided to ditch Rory to go climbing as he had already been trained. Paris was still standing where the beginners’ group had assembled. “Come on. Everyone else has already paired off or headed to the bouldering walls. Let’s climb.”
* * *
“I hate everything about this.”
“Paris, you haven’t even climbed as high as you are tall.”
“Let me down. Now.”
“You could literally just step off the wall.”
And so Paris does. She snapped at Rory, “I’d love to see you try,”
Paris had to clip in to belay Rory. Once she’s anchored, it seemed like a relatively easy path. Surprisingly, Rory liked it. She’s just over halfway to the top when there’s a whoop from below. She glanced over her shoulder to find that Jess has joined Paris – singing what seemed like don’t stop believing?
“What are you doing?” Rory called out.
“Singing for moral support.”
“Thank you,” Rory grinned as she reached for the next hold. “I feel properly encouraged, thanks.”
Rory made it to the top and Jess cheered. Paris lets her down, gently.
“Good job!” Jess says. “I tried to get Paris to do a jazz square with me, but she said if she did, it would kill you, so we opted not to.”
“Probably a good call.”
* * *
Rory was taking off her climbing equipment to turn them back in at the end of the evening when Jess approached her again, “What are your weekend plans?”
"Oh you know" She had nothing planned, Stars Hollow had its Festival of Living Art and Lorelai and Rory were participating in it. Later on, they had planned to order everything off the menu and watch the godfather trilogy, "I have this town thing"
"You're not from Hartford?" He asked as he handed in his equipment. He immediately turned to Rory to get her equipment to return as well.
"No. Stars Hollow"
"Yeah, I've been there. It's... pretty" Jess faltered, rubbing his temples "So, what's the town thing?"
"Oh, it's just - it's called The Festival of Living Art. It's kind of stupid but my mother and I have participated in it each year. We recreate some famous paintings. It's beautiful, really. We have costumes set up - my mom always ends up moving and Taylor. Oh, he's our mayor. he always gets mad. So...fun" Rory said excitedly. Immediately after which she started to panic about whether she had over-explained and freaked off Jess.
"That sounds interesting. What're you playing?"
"The portrait of a young girl - Antea"
“Parmigianino's Antea” Jess announced. So, he was aware. Rory smiled. Jess continued, “I’m sure you’ll kill it”
***
Paris and Rory ended up walking out together. Well, not together, exactly, but close enough that Paris was forced to pause and hold the door open for Rory. Most of the cast and crew had left by now, the parking lot emptying out as the place prepares to close for the night. Rory moved towards her mother’s jeep, but Paris was still lingering by the front door, pulling out her phone. “What are you doing?”
“Calling my driver. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Do you—” Rory took a deep breath. “Do you want me to drop you off?”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because I’m not a terrible person?”
Paris thinks about it for a moment. If she were to call a ride then, it would take the driver another hour to reach and it was already dark. “Fine. You can drive me.”
“Really? Thank you. How gracious. What a privilege.” Rory rolled her eyes. Rory swore she could have seen Paris smile a little but even if she had, she covered it real quick and followed in the direction of Rory’s car.
* * *
It’s silent on the ride to Paris’s house, in between her clipped directions. Rory, eventually to weed out the awkwardness, spoke “Climbing was fun, good … bonding activity.”
She looked over sharply and replied almost rudely, “We didn’t bond.”
“I meant, like, for the show. For the cast and stuff.”
She doesn’t respond. It’s quiet for a bit until she speaks again, a bit gruff: “I didn’t even want to be in this stupid play. I should’ve done like you did and screwed up my audition on purpose.”
“I didn’t … mess up on purpose.”
“Wait, so you were for real?” Paris just blinked at Rory, flabbergasted. So, Saint Rory wasn’t perfect “You making faces in the dining hall before auditions. That was … you acting?”
“What can I say? We’re not all talented enough to be magic fairy number five.” Rory giggled. Paris raised her eyebrows, “Excuse me, I'm the first fairy. It’s a named character. I have lines.”
“Oh geez, let me get the tony nominators on the phone.”
Rory thought Paris would laugh. But she isn’t. Instead, her expression was sort of stoic. She whispered softly “I don’t want to be a fairy. They all … I’m supposed to…” a pause. “Almost all my scenes are with Francie.”
“Do you still like her?”
There is a split second where Rory thought Paris might hulk out of her seat and crush her. But then: “I love her,” she said in a quiet voice. “You can’t just turn it off like that.”
“It doesn’t … have to be weird between you two.”
“What would you know about it?”
“Nothing, I just—”
“I’m sure you’ve got tons of exes,” she said roughly. “Being the pinnacle of charm that you are.”
Rory glared at Paris, they were here; they were bonding; she had to go and make it worse, “Do you want to walk home from here?”
“Oh, so that was your plan. Get me in the car and then abandon me somewhere.” Paris threw her arms up in the air. She doesn’t sound like she’s joking. Rory sighed, “I didn’t have a plan, there was no plan. Not everything is malicious. Not everyone thinks the way you do.”
“Not everything I think is malicious.”
“What would a pie chart of your malicious to non-malicious thoughts look like? How big a piece of the pie is non-malicious?” Rory asks. Paris huffs. She was now looking out the window trying to tell which turn was hers. “You know, I think I liked it better when you were afraid of me.”
“I was not afraid of you.” She wasn’t. Well, not entirely.
“Yes, you were! Everyone’s afraid of me. Everyone avoids me.”
“That doesn’t mean they’re afraid. Maybe it just means they don’t like you.”
Paris doesn’t answer, and Rory is filled with instant regret. They were doing okay. Well, it wasn’t a disaster. Paris just said she loved Francie. Paris Gellar used the word love. When Rory glances over at her at a red light, she doesn’t look angry. Just … contemplative.
“I didn’t mean—”
“It’s a left at the next turn,” she said, looking out the window, almost dramatically.
The next turn took them onto a road with fancy pillared street lights lining each side, and they were on it for a bit before Rory realized that it was in fact the driveway to Paris’s house. At the end of the drive was the largest mansion Rory had ever seen in real life. Bigger than any of her classmates’ houses. Bigger than her grandparents’ house. She would even go out on the limb and say, better than Stars Hollow. Rory pulled through the circle drive to the front of the house. Paris doesn’t look over or say thanks. She slams the door behind her and leaves. Nevertheless, Rory waited until Paris got inside before driving off. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you drop someone off. Even if you drop them off in front of a House roughly the size of a shopping mall. Even if you’re not exactly friends.
Rory spent the whole of Saturday morning, running errands for Miss Patty. Everyone in Stars Hollow was geared up for the Festival. There were colourful costumes, props, paint everywhere. There was something about this that Rory loved - The way everyone just came together. After four hours, the whole event was done. Taylor had yelled. Town’s folk laughed. Her mother had been overdramatic. Andrew fell down. Overall, it was a successful event. Rory was heading home with Lorelai to remove all the heavy makeup when she was greeted with a hello. She turned around to see – Jess Mariano. “Jess? What’re you doing here?”
“Well you painted a great picture of the event and I had to see for myself”
Rory’s cheeks tinted deep red but she was saved of embarrassment from eleven coats of gold she had on it. Lorelai stopped to see that Rory hadn’t caught up to her and walks back. Rory asks, timid “And?”
“You were right. It was really fun”
Lorelai cleared her throat and introduced herself as it was clear to her that her daughter couldn’t move past the heart eyes phase on this boy, “Hi, I’m Lorelai. Rory’s Mother”
Jess extended his hand, “Jess Mariano. Nice to meet you, I can absolutely see where Rory get her... admirable looks”
Jess immediately regretted everything that came out of his mouth; Lorelai looked at Rory with an expression that could be easily read as Admirable looks? Rory just smiled and pulled Jess to walk with them. Lorelai interrogated him further. Jess had moved past his awkward stage by then and was at a completely cheeky stage aka his normal self. He even cracked a few jokes and cited some cultural references which were a definite way into Lorelai’s heart.
They pass by the video store where Jess noticed a picture of Rory stuck. He comes to a halt. Rory groaned. Jess smirked, “Nice picture.”
Rory rolled her eyes, “Gee, thanks”
Just last week, Rory had caught some kids looking at inappropriate CD covers on the shelves and had informed Kirk. Taylor and Kirk decided to pull a complete censorship action against it. They put up a curtain behind which any movie that wouldn’t be kids appropriate was kept. The major problem with this, besides the obvious censorship, was that Taylor completely credited this idea to Rory. And now, an age-old cursed photo of her stood hanging outside the video store.
Jess smiled, as he looked closer at the picture “You're very popular right now. I bet if you burn a few books, they'll probably make you mayor”
Lorelai snorted and shook her head in a yes. Rory threw them a withering glare, “This is ridiculous. Rory sighed, “That’s it, I’m not standing here covered in gold getting humiliated by my mother and my – I’m going home”
Lorelai caught Rory by her hand asking her to stop for a moment while she turned to Jess, “Will you be here the rest of the day, Jess?”
“Just till late evening”
“You and Rory should hang out,” Lorelai declared. Rory, who was behind Lorelai, was pulling her arms whispering mom what’re you doing?'' Jess gives his brightest smiles and nods in an affirmative.
As soon as the Gilmores reached home, Rory ran inside the bathroom to remove the makeup, “Why did you have to do it, mom?”
“Do what?” Lorelai asked, completely innocent. Rory was scrubbing face wash to her cheeks, “Set up dates for me. You did the same with Dean. You just can’t – what if I didn’t like him”
“Please, I saw the way you were ogling at each other. It’s like I didn’t even exist”
“What if he didn’t ...like me?” Rory whispered. Lorelai pulled Rory into a hug, “Honey, he came to Stars Hollow Festival on a weekend just because you told him it was fun. He is into you. And if he still doesn’t, then he is an idiot”
“This gold... is not...getting off me,” Rory says struggling and aggressively rubbing her face. Lorelai pulled Rory aside, “Kid, don’t think too much. It’ll just be like hanging out. He’s seen saved by the bell – if anything fails at least you have that conversation. And then when you come home and we still have our marathon plan”
Lorelai removed the rest of Rory’s makeup and helped her pick out a dress. She was supposed to meet Jess at Luke’s. She was half worried that Jess might be lost but then she remembered it’s physically incapable of being lost in stars hollow and also that Jess had been there before.
***
Rory didn’t really have any plans made. She just asked Jess how he would feel about the town tour and Jess happily agreed. Does this kid ever get sad? She showed him the giant tree, the bridge, the inn. It was quite awkward in the beginning. But Jess made it so much simpler, with his dumb jokes and Rory felt right at home. She began throwing a few personal anecdotes around too. When they reached the bookstore, Jess’ eyes lit. But Andrew had declared an unofficial holiday for the store due to the festival. So they decided he would visit it the next time he was here.
“Do you read much?” Rory asked. Jess just shrugged not much. The tour is almost about to end, she had learnt so much about him. He didn’t have any parents, Matt’s parents took him in when he was a kid and Matt was like a brother to him.
“Hey, do you know Jacob Dolby?” Jess tried to change the topic. Rory shook her head in a no “He’s having a party next week”
“Good for him?”
“It’s gonna be fun. You should come by.” He’s got those damn dimples on display. It’s a particularly flirty smile, and he seemed as if he’s aware of its effectiveness.
“Yeah, maybe,” Rory contemplates.
“I can call you… about the info.” He fished a small booklet out of his pocket and extended it towards her. Rory paused for a moment but then wrote down her house number. “or I could come to pick you up if you want?”
“It’s okay. I can drive.”
“Cool. Well, I’ll see you there.”
“Maybe,” Rory smiled, as he flashed her a double thumbs-up.
Lorelai had asked Rory to pick up their food order before heading home and that’s what Rory did. Rory could see Jess eyeing the bags (many bags) of food but (bless his heart), remained silent about it. Rory said casually, “We eat”
Jess rubbed the crook of his neck, grinning “Eating.. is an important bodily function. Here, let me carry those for you”
Then they reached the movie store... where the dreaded Photo existed. Rory groaned at the sight of it. Jess says promptly, “I don't know; bet you have a lot of supporters on this. Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, Kathie Lee Gifford”
Rory replied in a shrill voice, trying to get back her food bags from Jess “Bye.”
Jess manages to tug the sleeve of Rory’s warm coat, holding her back “aw, come on, it's a little funny”
Rory turned back, in a fierce mode, “No, being the poster girl for censorship is not a little funny. The only videos not behind that curtain are Bambi and dumbo. I mean, they actually had a meeting earlier about whether or not babe should be behind the curtain so as not to offend people who keep kosher.”
Jess rose his shoulders, winking “it's a crazy world we live in.”
Rory tapped on the window, “And where did they even find that stupid picture?” It was a childhood photo. Not exactly a cute 5-year-old photo. But a prepubescent one - precisely the one clicked after she had won an eating cotton candy contest. Her face was puffed. her hair was a mess. Her outfit covered in sticky pink.
Jess widened his eyes, “oh no, the picture's good. It's the people who are stupid”
Rory skulked on the edge of the crowd, replied dramatically “I’m never gonna be able to leave my house again”
Jess cocked his head sideways, “Well, at least you won't starve” When that didn’t seem to cheer up Rory, he sighed “This is terrible, not going to lie. But are you aware of this kid from school who was new - didn’t know anyone, invited the whole class to her birthday party and had a meltdown? Man, that’s gotta suck”
Rory’s eyes widened; slack-mouthed. From Rory’s reaction, Jess knew he had done something wrong, he quickly apologised “Sorry. I’m so sorry. Bad story. Uhm, I don’t really do well in social scenarios - I”
“I’m that girl” Rory whispers
Jess forked his fingers through his hair for the fourth time, “No way, that was Grim Gilmore”
Rory stood there gape-mouthed. They called her grim Gilmore? “I’m Gilmore. Rory freaking Gilmore”
Jess was muttering ohmygod under his breath as he tried to think of a solution to turn this around. Rory, who was completely overwhelmed by this entirety, just walked away leaving Jess hanging there.
***
Rory rushed home, dropping the food bags onto the table, plunged into Lorelai who was on the couch. Tears flowing non-stop. Rory recited the entire last part of her time with Jess, taking pauses to muffle a small cry. Lorelai listening to her kid patiently while trying to console her “Rory, that was years ago”
“Did you not listen to anything I just said? HE remembered it and they call me Grim Gilmore.”
“It sounds like Jess was being stupid, ignorant boy. And he didn’t even know it was you, so probably no one does. Plus, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got friends now despite ‘the meltdown’”
It takes Rory a whole tub of ice cream and an episode of family ties to calm down. Lorelai crawls into the bed beside her, “Honey, I know you’re going through something but you brought the wrong order home”
“What? who else could possibly buy six bags of food?”
“There’s a possibility we might have butchered a six-year-old's birthday party”
“Oh my god, we have to return it back” Rory sat up straight, pulling a coat out. “I’ll return it and be right back”
***
Rory rushed over the peach street to hand over the party favours that were in the bag she brought home. The family were very thankful to Rory to have brought back their stuff. On her way back, Rory picked up her right order when - she found Jess seated near the bus stop bench.
She slowly approached him, “Hey”
He shut the book he was just reading and smiled, “Hey back.” He stood up, proceeding towards her “Look, I’m really sorry”
“It’s okay - well, it’s not okay but it wasn’t your fault so” Rory just shrugged.
“If it’s any consolation, I really liked the pudding -” Jess offered. Rory giggled. She couldn’t believe he remembered. That means he was there. It was sort of nice knowing he was there and he remembered something but then also equally embarrassing as he might have witnessed her breakdown hands-on.
“You came?” She asked, pleasantly surprised.
Jess distinctly remembered the party because he didn’t want to go but Matt’s parents insisted that he drop by. Matt had to come too but he was grounded due to an unfortunate vandalism incident. Jess was torn - what to gift someone you haven't even met before?
He decided that books were always a safe bet. So he wrapped a copy of for whom the bells toll by Hemingway in a shabby shiny paper he found in the house and dropped it off. He didn’t stay for long. He hadn’t even eaten a thing - crab, lobster sounded too fancy for him. But then he found colourful pudding - which he was never going to admit but he nicked two more out of the place.
Jess, simply smiled. Rory was wide-mouthed, “Great, now I don’t remember meeting you! Did you bring me a present - I would probably remember that?”
“Yeah, a book,” he said sheepishly.
“Hemingway?” Rory asked, she absolutely remembered that gift. Amidst lots of shiny jewellery, gift cards and many many cheques, the small package stood out. Rory could easily make out that it was a book. She happily tore the gift open to find… Hemingway.
“That was really thoughtful of you” Rory gave him the widest smile. He too reciprocated the smile. He pulled his tongue out, “I’ll have to take your leave now, Miss Gifford”
Rory buried her face within her arms, “I can't look at it anymore”
Jess said in a cool demeanour, “Relax. I don't think it'll be around very long”
The obvious question of why was written all over Rory’s face. When Jess didn’t pick on her non-verbal cue, she asked, “Why?”
“Just a guess.” He said as he proceeded towards the approaching bus. Rory called out Jess’ name. He simply replied, “Enjoy the food”
Rory yet again called out his name. Jess turned back, “Why?”
Rory looked around. She had nothing - well, not nothing; she had food. She yelled, “I'll give you an eggroll”
Jess stopped to look at her. Rory asked, “What did you do?”
Jess sighed, “Nothing much. Just wanted to make sure whoever rented dumbo or Bambi gets a little surprise”
Rory’s pupil dilated; brows knitted into a frown - a slight concern of what he could have done, “What kind of surprise? What did you do?"
Jess just bit his lip, his eyes filled with mischief and glint of deviltry, as he climbed the bus. He looked out from the window of his seat and yelled, “You owe me an eggroll”