Soccer Parents

True Friends

As expected, everyone else had arrived at Luke's Diner before they did.

Luke cooked up some burgers, taking requests first.

Riley wanted her usual with swiss cheese and onion rings on the burger, thinking that was the best thing ever created. Not wanting more frustrations, she made sure to whisper it in her dad's ear so her cousin wouldn't overhear and want the same thing. She offered to help him, but Luke reminded her she still wasn't allowed in the kitchen.

"April wasn't allowed either, kiddo," he told her, which Riley knew the story of how old her sisters were when they had met him.

Instead, Riley went over to sit down where the rest of the adults had pushed the tables closer together so everyone could sit and talk while the food was being prepared. She chose a seat next to her mom that also happened to have an empty seat next to it, and of course Doula snagged it up.

Riley groaned under her breath. But without causing another scene, she tapped her mom on the arm and waited until her aunt stopped talking when Lorelai turned her full attention to her. Keeping her voice low, she asked, "Can we switch seats? I don't want to sit next to Doula."

"No problem, kiddo." Lorelai pushed out her chair to stand up, stepping out of the way to let Riley sidle in front of her and swapped seats. It meant sitting next to her aunt, but that was more tolerable for the kid than sitting next to her cousin.

"So, Soccer Star," Liz said, leaning forward on her arms, "that was some first game, huh?"

Riley nodded. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun."

"I bet. You were killing it out there." Liz reached over to give her arm a playful squeeze.

"What about me?" Doula asked, half laying on the table. "Was I killing it?"

"You did awesome, sweetie," her mom reassured. Luke and Lorelai had shared with Liz how they had been trying to find Riley's thing she was best at, so she knew how important this was to her niece. But they also needed to be supportive of Doula, even if it was doing whatever she saw her cousin doing. Doula would learn to do her own thing, eventually. 

Luke eventually came out with the first round of burgers for the ones who didn't have special orders, assuring Riley hers was almost ready, close to her ear. He was just waiting on the onion rings. She thanked him politely.

Lorelai had gotten up to go make hers, so when Doula had her lunch, she grabbed it, still wanting to sit next to Riley.

Riley had been sipping on her glass of root beer when she noticed. Calmly, she informed the older girl, "That's mom's seat, Doula. You were sitting in that one." Riley pointed over to where Doula was sitting before.

"No, I was sitting here," Doula argued.

"No, you weren't." Riley told Doula she asked her mom to switch when Doula had sat next to her. But Doula still insisted that was the original chair she sat in.

It was Richard who interrupted the girls. "It does not matter who was sitting where. As long as everyone has somewhere to sit."

"But I don't want her to sit by me," Riley pointed out. "That's why I switched with Mom."

"Life does not always work in our favor, young lady," he said sternly. "She can sit wherever she pleases and if that is beside you, there is no reason you can't allow it."

"But..." Riley tried to protest, but her grandfather cut her off with another quick lecture on the matter.

Still upset from earlier, Riley shifted around in her seat and headed upstairs to her dad's office, which used to be his old apartment. Even though Richard wasn't doing it specifically for Doula, it still felt like she was getting her way yet again.