"Hello!" Dean yelled from the front door.
"Did you bring pizza?" I asked, stopping in front of him on my way back from the kitchen.
"Yup!"
"Then you may cross." I let him slide past me into the living room. Lorelai and Rory gave Dean a look of bewilderment as he put down a paper bag next to the pizza.
"What's in there?" Rory asked. Dean looked at her and chuckled.
"It's a salad."
"A salad?" Lorelai gasped. "What is this thing that you speak of?"
"It's a healthy alternative to eating pizza," Dean jokingly explained. The three of us looked at him. He looked back. Clearly, he understood we were confused still.
I had grown up with salads and fancy meats, living with Richard and Emily, but since then, Lorelai and Rory have erased that from my palette. The only reminder of the healthy life I once lived was Friday night at Hartford.
"It can also be an appetizer before eating multiple slices of pizza," Dean slowly added.
I patted him on the back. "Good save."
"Shh," Lorelai scolded, taking a piece of pizza and shoving it in her mouth.
"What are we watching?" Dean asked.
"The 'Donna Reed Show'," Rory quickly said. "Now be quiet."
"Who's Donna Reed?" He asked. At that, the three of us gasped and turned to him.
"You don't know who Donna Reed is?" Lorelai asked, looking more hurt than surprised.
"She's the classic fifties mom with the classic fifties family, of course," I explained.
"Never without high heels and a smile!" Rory added. "And her perfect hair!"
"I see that you three like this show," Dean said.
"Ha! No," Lorelai glared at him.
"It's a lifestyle!" Rory smiled.
"It's a religion," I quickly added before taking a bite of my pizza. Dean turned to the TV.
"So what's happening right now?" He asked.
"Well..." Then Rory and Lorelai spent the next few moments droning on about the show and talking through it while Dean tried to withstand them. Until he made a remark about it being "nice". "A wife cooking dinner for her husband". Then, he went over the line by adding, "Maybe she likes making food for her family."
Lorelai responded by saying, "she's acting from a script, Dean."
Rory added, "written by a man."
Meanwhile, I was actually watching the show, partly eavesdropping. I did not want to take part in that conversation that would not come out in Dean's favor.
"Your brained pinged?" I asked Rory, walking through the doors of Luke's.
"Yeah, I was studying late last night and it just 'dinged'."
"Sorry to tell you, Rory, but a 'ping' is very different from a 'ding'. Entirely different noise," I sighed.
"Eh, same concept," she retorted. Lorelai quickly ran in after us.
"What was up with that? You guys left me back there," she complained. I shrugged.
"My brain 'pinged'," Rory explained.
"'Dinged'," I corrected. Rory nodded to me.
"Well, as fun as that conversation sounds," my mother started, "I need coffee." She called Luke over. He sighed and walked over, sporting his casual grumpy face.
"Hi, Luke," I greeted.
"Hi, Lucy," Luke responded. It was clear I was his favorite Gilmore Girl. I started the coffee craze later.
"Luke," Lorelai started, "can I give you a piece of constructed criticism?"
Just as he started to say, "no", Lorelai continued.
"I think the diner could use a makeover," she told him.
"Oh, it needs a major glow up," Rory agreed.
"I can see it," I started. "A different shade of blue—oh! Maybe we can make it match his cap. Or paint tiny little baseball caps everywhere. That's sure to tell costumers about his personality."
"He would never, Lucy," Taylor said from out of no where.
"Oh my, where did he come from?" I asked Rory. She just shrugged.
Taylor continued. "Me and the beautification committee have been asking him for years to clean up the diner. Maybe put flowers out front or slap a new coat of paint on the outside—or inside—but he's been very resentful towards making Stars Hollow a more beautiful place."
"Oh, Luke, why are you resentful towards making Stars Hollow a more beautiful place?" Lorelai pestered.
"I just hate painting. Also, I hate making Taylor happy," Luke said. Taylor looked at him, but then turned away again.
"Okay. What if I help you?" Lorelai asked, giving off a bright glow. She loved anything to do with choosing something bright and colorful, usually clothes though. "I love to paint."
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do," she persisted. "C'mon we can drink beers and sing songs at the gazebo after we're done—when we're really, really drunk."
"What songs?" Luke asked.
"I don't know. Come up with some," Lorelai shrugged.
Luke sighed. "Maybe if you help me...I'll do it."
Taylor was ecstatic at that, saying how he was going to tell the rest of the committee.
"Ugh, I hate him being happy," Luke sighed when Taylor left.
"Calm down, you can throw an apple core right in front of his store later," I suggested.
Luke liked the sound of that.
Later, at Richard and Emily's house for dinner, Lorelai stirred up a conversation about the wine.
"It's a kick ass wine, Mom," she said.
Emily rolled her eyes. "How poetic, Lorelai."
"You can really taste the feet of the Italians stomping on every grape," Lorelai continued.
"Please, Lorelai, we're eating. No talk about feet," Emily scolded.
"So, when are you leaving for Martha's Vineyard this year?" Rory asked to stop the impending fight.
Richard sighed. "Unfortunately, we are not going this year."
"We should have just bought a house sooner, Richard."
"That would not have been wise, Emily."
"Now we have nowhere to go."
"Go somewhere else," I butted in.
"We would, Lucy, but we usually go to the Vineyard," Richard explained. "You know that."
"Yeah, but when we used to go, you two would usually complained about something," I blurted out, not thinking first if it would be an awkward subject.
The rest of the night was normal. Emily and Lorelai argued about Lorelai's manners. Meanwhile I dreamt of a freshly painted Luke's.
YOU ARE READING
Lucille in Stars Hollow
Fanfiction- My mother opened the door for me and I hugged my grandparents goodbye. This was happening all so fast. I had lived in this house all my life, and I was leaving? To live with my mother who left me here? - ...
