the town and the city (j. mariano)

CHAPTER 4

Luke and Mandy were waiting in the diner for Rory's debutante entourage when the girl herself entered the door.

"No Dean?" Mandy asked, wondering why her cousin had stalked off without saying hello.

"No Dean. He wants to take off the tux right away," Rory responded with a grimace of a smile.

"That bad?"

"Worse." Rory sat down, pulling Mandy with her when she went over to take her order. "Sit with me. I need anything to distract me from the fact that my biological parents are actually talking outside."

"Luke, take our order," Mandy called, making the man huff in annoyance.

"That's your job, Amanda." Mandy scowled at the name, even though she knew Luke only used it to annoy her. "But fine. What do you guys want?"

"Two burgers with extra fries please, you know how we like them," Rory pleaded.

"And three extra-large coffees for good measure," Mandy added.

"Three?"

"One for Lorelai," the girls chorused, glancing outside again.

"I wonder how it's going," Rory commented, worry creasing the girl's forehead in shaky lines. The girl's best friend could tell that she needed a reprieve from her thoughts because if there was anything that Rory would obsess over, it would be the problems of her mother and her schoolwork.

"Rory, what book are you reading right now?" she asked instead of answering the question. One of the best ways to de-escalate a Rory moment was to change the subject, and those closest to the girl knew it.

Rory brightened, a smile gracing her face as the worry lines vanished. "The Bell Jar, again. You know I love Sylvia Plath."

"One of many times, I'm sure."

"You know it. There's just something about the way she writes..." As Rory was about to get into another book rant, Luke plopped down the burgers in front of the two girls. The two smiled, forgetting about their conversation as they lifted the burgers to their mouths only to be interrupted by a gasp at the door. Rory raised her pinky as Lorelai entered the diner, and the woman's jokingly shocked face turned into a smile.

"There you go."

"Being a lady is hard," Rory complained, earning a grunt of approval from Mandy who was already devouring her burger.

"So tonight, what's the consensus?" Lorelai questioned.

"The fan dance was humiliating, I'm never doing a curtsy again, but having Dad around was great."

"Yeah, it was." Lorelai had a forlorn look in her eyes and Mandy could only feel sorry for the woman with Rory's next words.

"He's got a new girlfriend, you know."

"Sherri."

"Yeah."

"Poor girl's named after a Journey song, that's gotta be rough." It was classic Lorelai to joke through things that hurt her, but she wasn't fooling anyone.