Dandelion- Jess Mariano

♡Chapter 9: Debutante♡

After Parker and Rory found the book, they walked back out to the patio. "I found it!" Rory says with a smile. Her grandmother smiles back, and Parker could swear that this time it seemed a bit more mischievous.

None of the women said anything, and so they sat there in an awkward silence. And then all of a sudden one of the women looked at her watch. "Oh my gosh is that the time, I'm so sorry Emily I must get going" She says. And all of the other women look down at their watches and mumble agreements, thanking Emily for the wonderful get together before walking out the door.

Emily then turns to Rory, and asks her to sit down. Rory pulls Parker with her, and they both sit on chairs near Emily. Emily smiles at the two, and Parker is very suspicious of where this conversation is going to go.

"Rory, my friends have reminded me that the daughters of the daughters of the american revolution debutante ball is coming up, and that now would be a perfect time to present you to society." She smiles at her expectantly. "What do you think?"

"I-" Rory begins to say, before her grandmother cuts her off again. "It wouldn't be too awful, you could dress up, and your father could present you."

Rory, who seemed a bit ambushed, agreed. "Sure Grandma that sounds cool, But only if Parker can do it too." Rory says, and Parker looks at her and shakes her head with wide eyes, concerned.

"Why would she?" Emily says looking at her confused. Emily squints at her, taking a closer look at her.

"Grandma, I'd like you to meet my twin sister, Parker." Rory says, sliding her chair a little so her grandmother could get closer to Parker.

"It's not possible..." Emily says, in shock. She scoots closer and takes hold of Parker's hand that was resting on the table. "Rory is right. You must join us at the ball as well."

Parker smiles, because as much as she does not want to be presented to society, she likes the feeling of being able to say she has family, and if going to a ball is what she has to do, she'll do it.

"Thank you, I'd be delighted." Parker responds, and her grandmother smiles warmly.

"Wonderful." Emily says. "Now, you two must come in, we have lot of catching up to do."

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"I'm coming out" Parker says as she walks into the diner, speaking to Luke and Jess behind the counter.

"Out of what?" Luke asks. Jess looks up at her with a confused face. Then he smiles to himself before looking very serious at her.

"You know we will love you no matter what right?" He asks, slightly sarcastically.

"Yeah yeah whatever" Parker says, laughing at him. "No, I'm coming out to society. I met my grandmother today, and she asked Rory and I to go to a debutante ball."

"Aren't those the weird parties that parade girls around in front of guys to tell them they're of 'marriageable age'" Luke asks, looking at her skeptically.

"I don't know, maybe? But I could tell it was really important to Rory and my grandmother that I joined in" Luke turns around and picks up the phone, starting to dial someone.

"Don't worry I can get you out of this, I'm just going to call Lorelai" He says, before Parker sends a quick look to Jess, who then darts over and hangs it up. "What did you do that for?" Luke says, looking at Jess annoyedly. Jess gestures over to Parker.

"I don't need you to get me out of this, I want to do it, it doesn't mean that much to me but it does mean a lot to them, although there is a bit of a complication." Parker says, trying to explain herself.

"And what's that?" Luke asks her.

"I need someone to present me, and I also need a date." She says. Jess suddenly looks up at her, now that that peaked his interest. "I know that Rory is having our dad present her, But I don't know him, and he can't present us both, so I was hoping that you could present me Luke?"

Luke looks up, surprised. "Me? Why would you want me to present you?"

"Well, because you took me in, and you've been taking care of me, you're also my boss and pretty much the only person I'd want to present me, given that I don't have a father." Parker responds, trying to explain, but only ending up rambling.

"Well, yes then, sure" Luke stumbles through his sentence, not used to affection, and slightly embarrassed. He then looks towards her as he remembers the other thing she said. "You also need a date though?"

"Yeah" she said, "but I don't really know who to take. I had some idea-" She glances up at Jess at this moment, "But I guess I'll figure it out later."

Luke smiles at her before handing her her apron from under the counter. "All right kid, come on get to work" She nods at him, and puts the apron on.

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Jess was laughing as they walked down the hallways at school. Parker was explaining to him all of the things she'd have to do, including the dress, and the gloves, and everything else.

"You're going to look like a q-tip" He says, laughing at himself. "Found anyone to be your date yet?" He asked this like a joke, but he was genuinely curious.

"No, in fact I was just about to ask y-" Parker begins before they get cut off by Liam, a guy a grade above them.

"I heard you say you needed a date for something?" He asks, smiling at her.

"Oh yeah but I-" Parker starts, looking to Jess for help before she gets cut off again.

"Well, I'm interested" He says. Parker looks at Jess with wide eyes, but he doesn't do anything. Parker takes this as him not being interested, so she looks back at Liam. She smiles at him.

"That would be great. Meet me at Miss Patty's tomorrow, you have to learn how to dance" She says before walking off, without a second glance at Jess.

Jess glares over at Liam, who looks at him proudly before walking away. The rest of the day, Jess is grumpy and grumbling.

For the next week, her days are spent learning how to dance, and walk, and curtsy properly. As much as she'd like to pretend that she didn't like it, she in fact found it quite fun, because she met her sister's boyfriend, (She doesn't like him very much), and she got to spend a lot of time with her sister.

Jess on the other hand, was not amused by this. Parker wasn't talking to him as much as she used to, and when she did it was short. He wasn't sure exactly what caused this but he did not like it.