Gilmore Sisters

Chapter 28 ~ I'll Take Care Of You

  "Thank you for such an amazing day." I say to Asher as he walks me to the front of my house. 

  He kisses my forehead. "No problem."

  "But, Asher?"

  "Yeah.." he says hesitantly.

  "Can we not do anything next month?"

  He makes a puzzled face. "What do you mean?"

  "For our anniversary." I say. "I don't want to do anything for the next couple of months."

  "Why? You don't like them? You can plan the next one."

  "It's not that. It just...it's become a routine, and I don't want to not like it anymore. Because I do! I love it!" I try to explain.

  His face flashes between a ton of emotions but one of them sticks out, disappointment. "So, you don't want to do anything anymore."

  "That's not what I'm saying, Asher."

  "Then what are you saying?" he asks, his eyes looking more serious than ever.

  I look away. "Just that we should take a break from anniversaries. We don't need to celebrate every one."

  He sighs, then laughs humorlessly. "Yeah. A break.."

  "I'm sorry." I say in a quiet voice.

  "It's fine. Maybe we should just call it a night and discuss this tomorrow."

  "Yeah, okay.."

  He gives me a quick kiss then turns away. "Goodnight."

  "Night." I reply. He starts his walk home and I go up the steps of my house. The lights upstairs are off, as are the ones downstairs. 

  When I open the door, the first thing I hear is talking, or arguing. Who could Mom be arguing with? At this hour, if Rory's not home.

  I shut the door as quietly as I can, then I remove my shoes, and follow her voice to Rory's room. Rory is home. But, why? 

  I debate whether or not to go inside and find out myself, or wait until tomorrow. Unfortunately, neither of them really tell me things, so I'll just have to eavesdrop.

  "What happened here is we broke up. He didn't want to be my boyfriend anymore, end of story." Rory says.

  "That is so not end of story." Mom disagrees.

  "Yes, it is." Rory returns, not at all bothered.

  "Honey, he did not plan an entire romantic evening complete with dinner and a junkyard, which we'll get back to later, and then suddenly decide to dump you for no reason."

  "How do you know?" Rory asks.

  "Because I have read every Nancy Drew mystery ever written. The one about the Amish country, twice. I know there's more to the story than what you're telling me." she explains. "What are you doing?"

  "Getting rid of all this stuff."

  "What stuff?"

  "Everything he gave me." Rory answers. "Everything he touched, everything he looked at, breathed at, smelled at--"

  "Honey, will you just calm down for just one second."

  "He doesn't want to be my boyfriend, fine."

  "Okay, it will be but.."

  "What?"

  "Mine." Mom says, I assume Rory had taken one of her things to stuff in the box. "Is there someone else?"

  "No."

  "Is he moving?"

  "No."

  "Uh, is he dying? Did his football team lose a game?"

  "What?"

  "It's happened." Mom defends. I roll my eyes, nice one Mom. "Did he..um, try something?"

  "What?" Rory says, sounding like she's not even paying attention.

  "Y'know. Did he wanna.."

  "What?"

  "Did he wanna go faster than you.." she trails off.

  "God! No!" Rory exclaims in disgust.

  "Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

  "Jeez.."

  "You're just not giving me a lot to go off of here." Mom tells her. "That sweater is brand new, honey."

  "Well, he saw me in it yesterday and he liked it."

  "Well then he's got good taste."

  "He said it brought out the blue in my eyes." Rory tells her.

  "Well, then he's gay."

  "You're not funny and it goes."

  I shake my head, thinking about what possibly could've happened to make Dean not want Rory anymore. And honestly, if he doesn't think Rory's good enough or smart enough, then he's missing out on everything she has to offer.

  I decide that Rory probably won't tell Mom what happened, and that I'm wasting my time listening to them. So I put my shoes down at the front and quietly make my way upstairs.

  Tomorrow, I had to talk to Asher and try to calm him down. Maybe I shouldn't tell him about Lopez not yet. He's been pretty distant lately anyway.

  Buy right now, I need some rest...

  * * *

  Sorry, no music for this chapter. ^W^