teenage daydream ━ gilmore girls

𝟎𝟎𝟏. ━ rory meets chilton

season one // episode two
[ rory meets chilton ]

❝Why do you look like you've
run away and joined the rodeo?❞

"𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄! 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 could you possibly be going that you're leaving for another two weeks?"

Amelia woke up on Monday morning to the familiar sound of her parents arguing. A majority of their fights stemmed from Sophia Collins and her work. Somehow she was always busier than her husband, who was a well-respected surgeon.

Of course, that was his choice. He chose to cut back on work to be more present in his daughter's life. But for Sophia, that meant that she could work more.

"Oh, don't you start!" Sophia snapped back. "I am a working mother. Do you understand how hard that is?"

"Well, to me, it hardly seems like a fair argument given that you're never here to be a mother," Thomas retorted and Sophia clenched her jaw in frustration. "A girl needs a mother, Soph. You know that. Especially with how close you are to your mother. And Rory and Lorelai are practically inseparable."

"Well, not everybody can afford to become a stay-at-home mother."

Thomas stared at his wife. "We can," he replied in disbelief. "And that's not what I'm asking of you, Soph! You've missed almost every single one of Mia's dances—a moment that every mother dreams of spending with their daughter and you haven't been around for them."

"Amelia will understand the importance of hard work when she's older," Sophia said, collecting her purse and coat. "And she will understand why I'm gone so often. I have a meeting I'm going to be late for. I'll be home late."

He nodded, pressing his lips together. "Yeah. We know..."

Amelia let out a breath as she sat up in her bed, hearing the front door slam shut. She moved over to her window that overlooked the front yard of their large house and saw her mother get into her black car, drive down the street, and out of sight.

The younger Collins was so used to the arguments that her parents had that she was hardly fazed by them anymore. It was normal. In fact, for as long as she could remember, she had never seen her parents truly happy with one another.

And she felt that part of it was her fault.

Sophia had gotten pregnant with her when she was eighteen years old and, unlike Lorelai, she and Thomas agreed to get married after she was born. But where Thomas was a loving and doting father, motherhood never came naturally to Sophia. She struggled with postpartum depression and, as a distraction, dove into her work in the fashion industry.

Unfortunately, she never let up her workload and Amelia grew up with a workaholic mother.

Amelia walked over to her dresser, pulling out her white shirt, dark blue sweater, and plaid skirt. She picked up her hairbrush and began tugging at the tangles in her dark brown hair as she gave her appearance a once-over in the mirror.