the third gilmore girl || a gilmore fanfic

eight!!!!

Wednesday, May 1st, 2002

gracie's pov:

it's been three weeks since the accident and no sight of jess or luke. it was around seven pm, and I was getting ready to get in the shower, while Rory, mom, Shelby, Taylor, and I were sitting at the kitchen table. mom was wrapping my cast in a bunch of some kind of paper. "he hasn't called?" Rory asked. "nope, nothing." I replied. "have you got anything from luke?" Taylor asked. "I think if I got anything from either of them, you'd all know," I replied. I got up ready to get in the shower and mom said, "hey, even though the box says it's safe, I want you to keep your arm out of the microwave for at least a week." I rolled my eyes and went upstairs to shower. 

after school on Friday, Babette stopped me on my front lawn. "Oh! Gracie, Sweetie, hold on there, baby!" she exclaimed. "jeez Babette is everything okay?" I questioned. "I should be asking you that question. Come here, let me see that arm. Oh, you poor little thing. How are you doing, huh?" she asked. "I'm doing great!" I replied, grabbing the mail from our mailbox. "Aw, look at ya, being brave like that after all you've been through. Geez, it's so hard being a woman, isn't it? oh, you know that you little activist!" she replied. I smiled and she added, "I mean, you've got your morals and your standards and your good common sense, and then bam! You meet some guy and all that goes right out the window." "um-" I tried to say, but she cut me off saying, "For every good woman there's a dirty little wolf just ready to lead her astray. You can't help it, he's got the eyes, the chin, the chest hair you could carpet your dining room with... I mean, what's a woman to do? We're not made of steel for God's sake." "um," I replied. "I was in a cult once, did I tell you that?" Babette asked. "absolutely not," I replied, going up to my front porch. "I met this guy once gorgeous, tan, looked just like Mickey Holiday. We had coffee, he gave me a pamphlet. Next thing you know, I'm wearing a muumuu, playing the tambourine, jumping up and down at the airport." she added. "I'd love to hear more about this but I have to meet Rory inside," I replied. "Oh, sure, honey, you go take good care of yourself. And don't be embarrassed Stutz, this has happened to all of us." Babette replied. finally, I was inside. 

I dropped my backpack on the ground, and said, "Rory! where's mom?" "I don't know to check the machine," she replied. I pressed the machine and it said, "hey you, it's me. I'm gonna be home a little late today still trying to find Grandpa a Margie. So order pizza, money's under the rabbi, hope your arm's feeling okay, Sweets. Buh-bye." I grabbed the money under the rabbi doll, then walked to the kitchen, and grabbed a soda from the refrigerator. the phone started to ring, so I picked it up, and said, "hello?" "oh hi Gracie, it's lane," lane said on the other line of the phone. "I'll get Rory," I replied. "Rory! Lane's on the phone!" 

later that night we were at grandpa's business opening. there was a bunch of old business dudes talking, walking, drinking wine, and whatever else. I was sitting next to Rory on a chair, in a  random corner. and then, grandma came in, and asked mom, "what's that on her arm?" "oh, I was gonna tell you about that," mom replied. "hi grandma!" I exclaimed. "that's a cast. she hurt herself. when? how?" grandma added. "I fractured my wrist," I replied. "oh my god." grandma replied. "It's just a hairline fracture." mom added. "when did this happen?" grandma asked. "three weeks ago," I replied. "it was Rory taking her place, that's why it was only one of them!" grandma exclaimed. "how did this happen?" grandma added. "I got in a car accident," I replied. "what happened?" grandma asked. "jess and I went to get ice cream," I replied. "Mom, do we have to talk about this now?" mom asked. "yes, we have to talk about this now. the child has a cast on her arm. I don't understand how you could've been so irresponsible." grandma replied. "mom please." mom added. "Don't 'Mom, please' me. It was your responsibility to stop this, it was your responsibility to make sure that he did not-" grandma tried to reply but I interrupted saying, "I gave him the keys. I told him to drive. he wanted to drive back to Luke's and I said no. I wanted to keep on driving and that's when we got into the car accident. this is just as much my fault as it is his, maybe more." I replied. "grace." grandma replied. "I've got this, Mom. Can I see you in the hall for a second?" mom asked me. 

"hey, what the hell was that?" mom asked when we got into the hall. "I'm sick of this. I'm sick of everyone treating me like I'm some kind of mindless idiot being led around by a guy," I told her. "no one is treating you like that," she replied. 

                          "Everyone is, the whole town is. . . Taylor, Babette, Shelby, Miss Patty, Greyson. Everyone in my life, including you, is refusing to believe that I was just as responsible for what happened that night as Jess was." I replied. "really? were you driving the car?" she asked. I looked down. "then you weren't as responsible," she added. 

"what if it'd been Greyson, huh? What if Greyson had been driving? Would everyone be assuming that it was his fault?" I asked. "no, because if Greyson had been driving there wouldn't have been an accident because he is a much more responsible kid who loves you and would've been driving more responsibly." she replied. "how do you know that Jess wasn't?" I asked. "it's jess," she replied. "oh, right, Jess is the antichrist, I forgot. he wanted to get into an accident. he was looking for something to hit because he's a m*rder*r with a death wish and he wanted to k*ll us both, right?" I offered, sarcastically. "I know you think that Jess is your friend, but he's not. he is a completely out of control, really angry kid who has no respect for Luke, who has no respect for me..." mom tried to say but again I cut her off saying, "it was an accident!" "he was the one driving!" mom exclaimed madly. "so, what, no matter what I say, you're just gonna choose to blame Jess?" I asked. "yes, I choose to blame Jess." she replied. "Just because you hate him?" I asked. "that's right! I'm sorry, but when my daughter comes home broken I get to hate the guy who broke her. that's how it works. he's gone, I win. you are wearing a cast and I get to hate him forever!" mom yelled. "great!" I replied. 

                                 "I just had this image of thirty-five businessmen, six servers, one pointman all leaning up against that wall with glasses to their ears," mom added. "I don't think they needed the glasses," I replied. "we've got good lungs, you and I," she replied. "we're never gonna agree on this," I added. "You have to understand -"  she said. "I do," I replied. "I don't wanna fight about this anymore." mom replied. "neither do I." I replied. "wanna go back inside?" she asked. "no, I wanna go home. my wrist hurts and I'm grumpy and I just made a total idiot of myself in there so I just wanna go home." I replied. "All right, well, I'll tell Mom, I'll drive you." mom offered. "no, it's okay. It's still early. I can catch my regular bus and. . .you go back in." I replied. 

I got off my bus and walked by luke's. as I got closer I saw luke. "hey," I said. "Gracie." luke said. "you're back?" I asked. "I'm back," he replied. "catch anything?" I asked. "nah. the fish went fishing also." he replied, while I smiled. "does it hurt?" he asked. "no, not really. just itches a little." I replied. "yeah, I can imagine. make sure you don't use a pencil." he replied. "I broke my arm once,  itching drove me crazy. Grabbed a pencil, shoved it down the cast to scratch, ya know..." he added. "bad results?" I offered. "yup," he replied. "so, you want some coffee?" he added. "always," I replied. we went into the diner, and I sat down at the counter while he poured me a cup. "where's your mom tonight?" he asked. "at a party for my Grandpa." I replied. "nice, grab yourself a donut," he added. "so, have you heard from him?" I asked, grabbing myself a donut. "no. I talked to his mom, though. he got home okay." he replied. "good, that's good." I replied. "what about his stuff?" I added. "oh, I'm gonna send it." he replied. "right, that makes sense." I replied. 

"luke?" I asked. "it wasn't his fault." I added. "I know," he replied.