"So we're still on for tonight right?" I ask Rory who is three lockers down from me.

I stuff whatever books I had in my arms into the locker. I exchange them for whatever books I needed for my last class of the day.

Tonight I was supposed to stay over at Rory's place. Since Lorelai was out of town with Emily Gilmore and my mum had to go to Hartford for the night. She was looking for a new laundry machine for us.

Someone, and by someone I mean me, forgot to take out the book from my coat pocket. That meant that the laundry machine got clogged up with paper. Not to mention the death of my Sense and Sensibility copy. Rest in peace Austen. It helped that Rory was planning to do her laundry so I could just put my clothes in with hers.

"Yup, you'll bring the movies?" She confirms with me as I loosen the tie around my neck.

I nod my head as an answer. We both slam our locker doors close. I made a move over to Rory but stopped when Paris appeared in front of me. It was as if she appeared out of thin air.

I let out a yelp of surprise, almost dropping my books. "God, you're like a pop-up book from hell!" I exclaim.

Paris just stood in front of me, her face unmoving. "I need help with chemistry tonight," she says.

"Sorry," I start apologetically. "Even if I wanted to I can't, I'm busy tonight."

She closes her eyes for a moment as if processing her disappointment. "How about you?" She turns to Rory hopefully.

Rory rubs the back of her neck. "I'm busy too."

Paris throws her hands up in exasperation. "Does no one care that I got an A minus?" She asks out loud. "Do you think Harvard or any college for that matter would except someone with an A minus in Chemistry?"

Rory and I had made a move to calm her down but Paris had already stalked off. She kept muttering to herself things like 'Do you think Thomas Edison would have gotten an A minus for chemistry? No!'

I shared a concerned glance with Rory before we went out separate ways. 

~~~

"Do you think we ordered too much?" Rory asked as we sat on the couch. We shared a menu of Sandeep's in between us while Rory had the phone in her hand.

I take a look at the list of food we had written down. "Nah, you can never order too much. Add the samosas." I tell her.

She grabs the list before writing down the newest addition. We both scan it over, making sure we had everything.

"All right, I'll order." Rory announces as she dials the number on the phone. As she was repeating our order the doorbell rang. She casts me a look to tell me to answer it.

I sigh before making my way off the couch, as slowly as possible. I made sure to add a lot of sloth noises to enunciate my distaste for getting up.

Rory sent me a glare. "Cassie," she chided as she covered the phone. She walked into the kitchen to put back the menus.

Deciding not to torture her anymore, I walked over to the door normally. I opened it to see Paris standing there. She had her backpack on and a pile of books in her hand.

She walked straight inside as if I wasn't there. "I've tried studying myself and I can't! I need your help!" She stood in the middle of the living room. Around her were piles of clothing, sorted by colour and a few movies here and there. There I was, in the middle of the room in my Winnie the Pooh pyjamas. All in all, the place looked like a mess.

Rory walked back into the room from the kitchen. "Who was at the-" she stops herself short when she noticed Paris. Instead of Winnie the Pooh, Rory had on her Minnie Mouse onesie.

"This was your busy night? Pyjamas and laundry?" She asks incredulously. She gestures to the mess on the floor. "What is she even doing here? Last I check you don't live here!" Paris looks at me as she clutches her books tighter in her arms.

"Paris, calm down." Rory approaches her. "We just wanted to do laundry, and Cassie's machine is broken so she's spending the night."

"This is our alone night," I tell her.

Paris looks at me with her mouth agape. "How is it an alone night if there's two of you?" Yeah, I should've chosen my words more carefully.

Rory sighs as she pinches the bridge of her nose. "One hour," she tells Paris sternly. She nods her head eagerly.

"Fine, I'm gonna go change." I walk over to pick up a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Rory does the same as Paris sits down on the couch.

"Okay, but my hour doesn't start until you two come back!"

Studying with Paris was like studying with a time bomb. Every now and then she would go off and start yelling about how she needed to get and A plus and not an A minus. Sometimes, she would recite the Declaration of Independence and say what a joke it was.

"Paris, you don't need any help." Rory said to her with her notes in her lap.

I close my textbook as the door rings. "I'll get it, it's probably the food."

"But my hour isn't done yet!" Paris protests.

I hear Rory calm Paris down from the living room. "We know, you can stay some more and eat with us if you'd like."

Opening the front door instead of seeing Sandeep with some food, I saw Jess holding a box in his arms. He was wearing a denim jacket with the collar up.

He smirked at me. "Delivery."

"You're not Sandeep," I comment.

"Yeah, I don't think so." He says back. "Where should I put this? Kitchen?" He walks straight in the house.

He puts the box down and starts unpacking it's contents. There were burgers, mac and cheese and god knows what else. Must be from Luke's.

I raise my eyebrow at him. "What is this?"

"A care package," he says nonchalantly. "Luke heard you were alone and wanted to send some food over."

"Well, I'm not alone. I'm at Rory's place aren't I? She's here."

Jess rolls his eyes at me. "He just wanted to make sure you were well fed. Can either of you cook?" Judging by my silence he knew that neither of us could cook without burning the house down.

"We don't need to cook. We ordered Indian food" I explain to him.

Just then, Rory comes in with Paris hot on her heels. "Oh, hey Jess." She says awkwardly.

"Hey," he says back. Looking behind her he sees Paris. "Isn't that Angela Lansbury? From the diner?" He jokes.

"Yes, it is." Rory says before taking Paris out of the room. "Let's go and study." She sends me one last teasing glance over her shoulder.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" He asks as he rests his hands on the chair.

"Yeah, you want some?"

Jess takes off his jacket and hangs it on the back of his chair. He pulls it out and takes a seat. "Don't mind if I do," he sends me a smirk. "Sit down." He invited.

"Let me just call Paris and Rory." I tell him.

He rolls his eyes and stops his hand midway to the box of fries. "Didn't know we need a chaperone."

"They're both here and it would be rude to eat without them." I say, wondering why he got salty all of a sudden.

I walk into the living room. "Hey, let's eat." I tell Paris and Rory who were sat on the couch.

Rory raises her eyebrows at me. "You sure you two don't wanna spend some alone time?" She implies quietly.

Paris perks up at Rory's words. "You like that guy?" She asks, interested.

Before I could answer Rory went on talking. "Oh yeah she does."

Paris leaned closer to Rory and she described how 'madly in love' with him I was. "Do either of you have an off button? He's in the kitchen." I whisper.

"Well then let's go," Rory says as we all head into the kitchen.

~~~

"No. Absolutely not." Paris begins. "The beats writing was completely self-indulgent. I have one word for Jack Kerouac. Edit."

Jess looks at Paris from across the table like she's grown two heads. "I can't believe you said that!" He turns to me. "You agree with her?"

"Well, not entirely." I begin as Jess groans.

"I thought you liked Kerouac!" He says from beside me as he slings an arm around my chair.

"I do like his writing! I just think that Paris has a point," I try to explain myself.

Rory gets back in her seat next to Paris. "Well, he was pretty self-indulgent." She says, popping a fry in her mouth.

"He was not!" Jess exclaims as I let out a laugh. I've never seen him so riled up before. "The beats believed in shocking people, stirring things up."

"They believed in drugs, booze and petty crime." Paris argued.

I swallow down whatever food I had left in my mouth before speaking. "Well then, you could say they exposed you to a world you wouldn't have otherwise known."

"Yeah, isn't that what great writings all about?" Rory adds.

"That was not great writing, that was the national enquirer of the 50's" Paris retorts. "Typical guy response, worship Kerouac and Bukowski!"

I let out an exaggerated groan. "Don't even get me started on Bukowski," I express my dislike for the author.

"God forbid you pick up anything by Jane Austen," Paris continues.

"Hey, I've read Jane Austen!" Jess defends himself. "I think she would've liked Bukowski."

I scoff at his words. "No she would not!" I protest.

Jess rolled his eyes at me. He began to season our shared box fries. "What're you doing?" Paris asks.

"Salt and peppering it," I say to her.

"Only way to eat a fry," Jess adds as I take one.

Paris looked to Rory for confirmation. "Really?"

"It's fast food gospel." She agrees.

Paris looks at the box skeptically before I shove it closer towards her. "It's not gonna bite you, Paris."

"Quite the opposite actually," Jess jokes.

She takes a fry from the box and eats it just as the telephone rang. Rory got up to answer it.

"Wow, it's really good!" Paris acknowledged.

"Do you like hot sauce?" Jess asks her, already reaching for the bottle.

Paris shrugs. "I don't know, should I?"

"I think it's wise," I tell her as Jess adds a few drops to the box.

Rory quickly runs back into the room nervously. "Wow, I just noticed the time and it's getting really late."

I take Jess' arm to check his watch. "It's seven o'clock." I state, looking at her curiously. Rory looked frazzled.

"I know but we still have a lot more studying to do." She tells me, gesturing for me to follow her into her room. "Actually, do you mind helping me for a while?"

"I'll be back," I tell the two at the table before following Rory. "What is going on with you?"

Rory paced around the room with her hands in her hair. "That was Dean."

"Where?"

"On the phone!" She says panicked. "He's on his way here and if he see's Jess he'll freak!"

I put my hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Rory, Jess is my friend. Dean will understand why he's here." I try telling her.

"Then he'll get mad at why he couldn't be here!" She explains.

I sigh. "Are you sure he has to go? We're all having so much fun."

She looks into my eyes, begging me. "Please, I can't take another fight with Dean."

"Fine, I'll tell him to go." I say sadly.

Rory hugs me tightly. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

I head out the door and back to the kitchen table where Jess and Paris sat talking about poetry. "You know what, Rory was right. It's getting late." I tell Jess.

I pick up his jacket and hold it out for him to take. "Who was on the phone?" He asks not moving from his place. I could tell he already knew who was on the phone.

"Jess, please." I plead, not bothering to answer his question. "I don't want them to fight."

He looked at me for a second before noticing how desperate I was. "Fine," he agrees before dusting off his hands on his jeans.

He takes his jacket from my hands and makes his way into the hall. He trips suddenly and i hear him groan. "I think I twisted my ankle," he jokes. "I better go lie down."

"Jess," I huffed as I pushed him lightly towards the front door.

"Oh come on. Why don't Dean and I have a heart to heart? He'll tell me his problems, I'll tell him mine. I promise to speak slowly." He jokes as he leans against the door not letting me open it.

I could hear Rory talk from behind me. "Guys!He's almost here."

But Jess still wouldn't move. "Jess, please." I start as he just looks at me. "If you're not gonna do it for Rory, do it for me."

That did the trick. He sighed before giving me one last smile. "Give Dean my best will you," he joked as he gets up off the door. I open the door.

"Bye-bye, Birdie." I comment as I push him out the door.

"Actually, I could do that myself." Jess drawls out when we see Dean standing on the porch with a paper bag in his hand.

Rory comes up besides me. "Dean, hey." She nervously says. I didn't like how nervous she was. "He just brought us some food." She tried to explain.

"Actually, just came to bring Cassie some food." Jess tried to make the situation better.

"Yeah, it was for me." I try to help Rory out.

Rory nods along as Dean just looks between the three of us. "Yup, he couldn't care less if I ate." Rory says.

"I see you brought her a little something to. Is that ice cream? Aw, how cute. Isn't that cute, Cassie?" He mocks.

I elbow him lightly in the ribs. "Stop it." I told him as Dean approached us looking like he wanted to murder Jess.

He stood in front of Jess, who happened to be in front of me. Dean looked down on Jess with a glare. "Oops, you're doing that towering thing over me. Huh." Dean nods down at Jess angrily. "I tell you, you've really got that thing down. It helps that you're twelve feet tall. This Frankenstein scowl really add to the whole-"

"Jess." I stop him. 

He doesn't take his eyes of Dean for a second. "Okay, I'm going." As he walks down the steps he looks back at Dean. "Look, man I really was just dropping off some food. So don't get all West Side Story on me." He sends on last look back at me. "See ya, Cherry."

The three of us just stood there in silence before Rory spoke. "So do you want to," Rory begins. Dean just ignored her and stormed inside. I send Rory a sad smile before we both follow after him inside.

"What the hell is going on?" He shouts as he enters the kitchen. The table was littered with half eaten boxes of food. Paris sat down in one of the chairs as she ate out from a take away box.

She saw Dean enter and said a small, "Hi."

"Dean you remember Paris right?" Rory asks gesturing toward Paris.

"Yeah, hi." He says quickly. Not wanting to be in their way, I took a seat next to Paris at the table. I picked on some of the leftover food there.

"So Jess just dropped this off, huh?" He asks angrily as he walks around the table. Rory tried to speak but he kept on going. "I know you eat fast, but this is a lot of food to put away that quickly."

They both stoped walking. "Okay, so he didn't just drop this off," Rory says.

"You told me you two were doing laundry tonight," he says angrily.

"I was!"

"But now you're here with Jess, Rory. Jess!" Dean said his name as if it were some kind of poison.

Rory put a hand up to her head. "Paris is here! So is Cassie! I swear none of us knew-" she begins to stutter but Dean cuts her off. Yet again.

"You didn't know he was coming over?"

"No, I didn't!"

"You also didn't know he was gonna stay right?" Dean continued.

Deciding that I couldn't take anymore yelling from them I spoke up. "Dean, calm the hell down." I stood up and walk toward them.

"This isn't your problem," he tells me.

"You wanna know the truth right?" I asked, not giving him a chance to answer. "Jess came to drop somethings off, but I invited him to eat with us." I lied, or maybe it wasn't a lie. I wasn't sure.

Dean looks at me with furrowed brows. "You invited him to stay?"

"Yes, because he's my friend. And I thought that we couldn't finish all this food ourselves." I explain to him, hoping that he'll stop yelling at Rory.

"So she can invite her boyfriend over?" Dean turns to Rory still not willing to let this go.

"He's not my-" I tried to correct him but he wouldn't listen.

Rory runs a hand over her face. "It just happened, he was here and we didn't plan on it or anything."

"What do you mean it just happened?" He yelled. Rory began to stutter as she thought how to answer him.

Suddenly Paris spoke up. "It's my fault." Everyone turns to her.

"What" Dean asks.

"It's my fault that Jess was here." She stands up from her seat. "I saw him the day I came to Stars Hollow and thought he was just so cute. Since I'm not good at the whole 'batting my eyelashes, look at my belly shirt' thing, I asked Cassie to call him over since their friends."

"I thought maybe if he came over and we had a chance to talk we'd-" she sighs as if thinking how dumb her plan was. "I don't know, it seems totally stupid now. And it obviously didn't work. But that's why he was here." She lied. "Right?" She turns to me.

"Yeah, that's what happened." I agree. "Sorry it didn't work out."

"Thanks for trying to cover for me," she says to Rory and I.

Rory waves he hand. "That's okay."

I grab Paris by her arm as we walk out into the living room. We gave Dean and Rory some privacy. I took a seat next to her on the couch.

"You think he bought it?" Paris whispers just loud enough for me to hear.

"I think so," I say. "We were pretty good. We should get into acting." I joke. Paris let's out a small laugh.

Soon enough Rory came back into the room. She ran straight for us and flung her arm around our necks. She hugged us so tight I thought that my neck would snap.

"What was that?" She asks to Paris and I.

"What was what?" Paris inquires.

Rory took a seat on the coffee table. "That save! I can't thank you two enough!"

"It's fine, he shouldn't  have yelled at you like that." I say with a shrug.

"You should stay," Rory offers to Paris.

Paris tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Stay over, like a slumber party."

"Yeah, we'll watch tons of movies." I add hoping to convince Paris.

"Is this just cause I helped you?" She asks Rory hesitantly.

Rory shakes her head. "It's cause we're friends."

Paris looked as if she'd never heard the word before. "We're friends?" She looks at me with wide eyes.

"Like the three musketeers."

"Okay, I'll stay." She says as I smile widely at her. She points a finger at us. "But if you're doing this to freeze my bra, I'll kill you."

"Duly noted.