Part 7 - Illogical Logic
Lorelai opened the front door to the Inn, peaking into the main lobby. Seeing that the coast was clear, she opened the door and walked in full of confidence.
"You..."
Lorelai spun to her left and saw Michel in the hallway with his classic displeased look on his face. She wondered how long they could stand there staring each other down, before one of them said something or looked away.
"Okay, Michel, should we get Sookie and stand back to back and walk five paces?"
"You...you are the devil."
"Ooh, Michel, the way you say devil makes it sound so nice and fluffy. Say it again," Lorelai demanded, a very large grin on her face.
"No."
"Michel, please?"
"No, get away from me." He turned and walked down the hall.
"Michel, don't go away angry, you deveel, you!" Lorelai chuckled to herself and walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Sook."
"Did Michel find you? He's been walking around for a half an hour saying deveel over and over," Sookie said, giggling.
"Yeah, there's a duel later. You're the Master of Ceremonies."
"Rory and Jess got married and moved to Paris?"
"Yeah, I'm handling it quite well, don't you think?"
"Remarkably," Sookie said, handing Lorelai coffee. "She's been back two days and is it World War Jess already?"
"Eh, it's having it's moments. Although, I must say I haven't seen her this happy in quite some time. Granted, I haven't seen her all summer but those last couple of months with Dean and Jess going back to New York...she wasn't fond of the smiling."
"But her being happy is what's important, right?"
"It's what I keep telling myself."
"You want to borrow Ella?"
"Sookie, are you looking for me to kill myself for reasons I don't know about?"
Sookie chuckled, "It's not that depressing."
"For the seven hundredth time, if you weren't Frances Farmer before it, you would be after."
"Jackson is still grateful to Rory and Lane for finding 'At Last'."
"When in doubt, go with the other soul singer that begins with an e, ends with an a and has two constenants in the between."
"The great thing about the wedding was how everyone still talks about it to this day. Of course, they aren't talking about the actual ceremony or the delicious food..."
"Oh, Sook, you know that when one really great thing happens, something else plummets down into the fiery pits of hell. Believe me when I say, your wedding to Jackson made it worth it."
Sookie burst out laughing, tears coming to her eyes. She shook her head and walked over to the stove. "I think you just put your finger on why you were never a cheerleader."
"I thought that was pretty good."
"I was waiting to hear an acoustic guitar playing in the background."
"Like on Party of Five?"
"Exactly! Just enough schmaltz."
"It was a beautiful ceremony, Sook. And the food...amazing! Do you know the chef? I might hire her for my daughter's upcoming nuptials."
"Might?"
"Two days has seemed like two weeks. I think I'm getting white hairs. It's skipping the gray process all together." Lorelai grabbed a clump of hair and began sifting through it, trying to find some to prove her point. "Aha! See? This is why I wanted Rory to go from being thirteen to at least eighteen because then she'd be away at school and the things she'd be doing there she wouldn't be doing here and so I wouldn't be living in constant fear and worry."
"That's interesting Lorelai logic."
"It's the only way to live, baby."
"Lorelai, you know you can trust her. You know that she would never do anything that would jeopardize her future."
"That was all pre-Jess."
"And now, suddenly, mid-Jess, Rory is going to give everything up? Have you actually listened to this logic you live by?"
Lorelai looked at Sookie and knew she was right. "Hey, no one said logic had to be logical."
*************************
"When is the test?"
"Friday," Jess answered as he quickly wrote on the yellow legal pad, glancing a the history book on the table.
"Did you tell Rory yet?" Sarah asked, sitting at the table. She lit a cigarette and watched Jess.
"No, I'm waiting."
"For?"
"After the test."
"Why, exactly?"
"Well," Jess began, setting his pen down, lighting his own cigarette. "You and Luke are the only people who know I have this thing on Friday and since you're here to help, no one else needs to know. Especially Rory."
"And again I ask why?"
"Sarah, if I don't pass-"
"Which you will," Sarah interjected.
"But if I don't, I'd rather she didn't know that I failed yet another thing."
"The way she feels about you is not based on whether you pass or fail, Jess."
"I know that." He looked quickly at Sarah and shrugged. He picked his pen up and began writing again. "If I don't pass, I won't be able to graduate."
"So, if you don't pass, which won't happen, you plan on telling her when exactly?"
"Uh...sometime..."
"Like around June?" Sarah asked sarcastically.
"Sarah, leave me alone!" He threw the pen across the room in frustration.
Sarah frowned at Jess. "The pen left a mark on the wall. Clean it off. And," she picked up his pack of cigarettes, "You can't have any of these until you apologize for that temper tantrum."
"I'm sor-"
"Not now, you don't mean it." Sarah walked over to her computer, grabbed a pen and brought it to Jess. "When you're done with the essay, let me know. I'll be over there working."
"Sarah," Jess began. Sarah shook her head and sat down at her computer. "Sarah, are you really mad?"
"No, not really really. I don't respond well to men yelling at me."
"I was trying to study."
"I know that. But I also know that you know all that information backwards and forwards and you were using it as an excuse to not answer the question. I told you no crap, Jess, and I meant it." Sarah turned in her chair to face him. "It's been a long time since we've spent a lot of time together, so we'll take a small break. We'll do our separate work and when you're finished with that, I'll give it the once over, tell you you're right and then you can start on the calc."
Jess went into the kitchen and got a wet rag. He washed the pen mark off the wall and went over to Sarah. He looked at the rag in his hand and smiled. He lifted it and lightly hit Sarah on the back of the neck with it.
"Ew, gross! You just cemented me never speaking to you again," Sarah said, laughing.
"Sorry I was an ass."
"Sorry I was pushy."
"Are we good?"
"Yup...as long as you tell Rory."
"I can't tell her yet. I'll take the test Friday and when I find out, I'll tell her what is going on."
"Jess, you have this huge thing coming up that is like extremely important and don't you want her support in this?"
Jess didn't answer. There was a part of him that wanted to tell Rory what was going on but then there was the other part. The part of him that was sure that no matter what he did or how hard he tried, people would be disappointed in him. He never cared about these things before but he didn't have Rory before, either.
"Principal Martin tells us that they will let us know Friday afternoon. I'll tell her then."
"Pass or fail?"
"Pass."
"Jess..." Sarah began.
"I don't want to fight again but this is my decision and I'm telling her when I tell her."
"Far too stubborn for your own good."
"Whatever." Jess walked away from the discussion and went back to the table. He read over the essay he had been working on but he couldn't pay attention to any of it. Sarah's words were sinking in too deep and he couldn't get telling Rory out of his mind.
**********************
Rory sat on the couch looking over the material that she had been given in D.C. Thinking about Washington made her smile. Being there, she felt free from everything. Being on her own was such a new and exciting experience for her. It made her crave going to Harvard even more than before. The phone rang interrupting her thoughts of life after high school.
"Hello?"
"We need to work on our mission statement before school starts."
"Paris?"
"I'm not playing the name game with you. This is serious. We can not go into Chilton on Wednesday with the platform that we came up with."
"First of all, Paris, you came up with that platform and secondly, said platform is fine."
"No, Rory, said platform is far from fine. If I wanted fine, I would have free pizza Fridays. I didn't for a reason. With this statement, I might as well have because it would make it one hundred percent better."
"The mission statement is great, Paris. After a summer of seminars, classes, visits to Congressmen and Senators, we came up with an excellent statement. Remember our group leader saying we mastered the ideology of governing better than half of the actual government?"
"That was him under your girlish charm. Our statement is as useless as the Carter administration. We need to meet tomorrow."
"No, Paris, I have things..."
"No, Rory, you have this thing. This is far more important than running through the daisies singing 'Sunshine Day'."
"Goodbye, Paris."
"Rory-"
Rory hung up before Paris could say anymore. She smiled, even letting a small laugh escape her. She began looking for their mission statement, suddenly wondering if Paris's neurosis had any merit. The phone rang again just as she found the pages. "I'm looking at it right now and it really isn't so bad. Maybe a little tweaking in parts-"
"Rory?"
She froze. Her heart sped up far too quickly and she was sure she was having another stroke. She tried to swallow but it got stuck in her throat and she began coughing.
"Rory, are you okay?"
"Fine...just...choking. Hold...on..." She put the phone on the couch, lifted a pillow and buried her face in it. She half coughed and half-screamed until she felt capable of talking again.
She picked up the phone and took a deep breath, hoping she didn't choke again. "Dean?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking I shouldn't have called."
"No, no, it's fine. It's nice to hear from you." Rory could feel her face burning up. She was sure her heart was pounding so loudly that Dean would be able to hear it. "So...uh, can I help you?"
"That's a bit formal."
"I didn't mean to be form- Dean? Why are you calling?" Rory asked, switching the phone to her other hand. The hand that was holding the phone was clammy and she kept wiping her hand on her pants, nervously.
"Could we talk?"
"Uh...I didn't think you wanted...I mean, I didn't think that-"
"I need to talk to you, Rory." And in Dean's voice, there was a pleading that tugged at Rory's heart.
"I suppose we could talk." Rory closed her eyes, trying to regain some equilibrium. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Not on the phone. Can you meet me?"
"Meet?"
"Yeah, you know when two people come together at one place and possibly share a handshake."
Rory smiled through her nervousness. "Meeting might be too... I don't know. Is there screaming involved?"
"No, no screaming. I promise." She could hear Dean take a deep breath. "Will you meet? I have a break from the market at 4:30."
"I remember," Rory said, softly. "I'll see you then."
Rory hung up the phone and she was bowled over by how nervous she actually was. She never expected him to call. She never expected him to want to meet. She felt sick to her stomach. She noticed that her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She tried ringing them out but it didn't work. She picked up the mission statement again and looked it over but she was not able to read any of the words.
She tossed the paper to the other end of the couch and said, "Paris is right. This is all wrong."