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pre: red light on the wedding night
❝ 00: a progress in making ❞
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     Everleigh Mae Morgan is known for lots of things —The girl with a determined mind. The one with a perfect boyfriend (Ha! that's a good one). The nightmare dressed like a daydream. Or her favourite, The girl who is in love with her best friend but lives in denial.

     ( And apparently people haven't heard of platonic love or its definition but of course opposite sex is always considered to be something more than just friends ).

    Regardless, of all that not once she thought of doing something so impulsive in her life nor she has ever wanted to but after a week she had, she didn't care. She didn't care that she was soon starting her junior year, she didn't care that her love life was falling apart, she didn't care that she lost all her 'true' friends, she didn't care that her reputation at school was changing.

    She simply just didn't care anymore and all she ever wanted was to get away, even if it was just for a moment .

    And that's exactly what she did.

    She ran away from her problems and responsibilities without a second thought. She had an idea — a stupid one but she had an idea, she stuck to it and now here she was about to deal with its consequences;

    Stars Hollow.

    The town she has never been to in her life. She has heard about it loads in the past year but that was the closest she has come to the small town. Her best friend has told stories about all of it, like how they once moved everyone found out within minutes. (No seriously, it only took a day for them to arrive for the news to fly around. Their arrival spread faster than Lydia Deetz guessing Betelgeuse's name). Or, how the town was ready to hide his body if he hurt his girlfriend, because apparently everyone adored her.

    Yet, here she was, stepping out of the bus with its headline reading "New York – Hartford" and to her own surprise as soon as the bus drove away she took in the town.

    The beam of light heats the side of her face as people pass by her. Stars Hollow so far didn't look all that bad and from the things her best friend has said seemed true. (She always thought it was a cover up so Everleigh doesn't get her 'I told you so' moment but apparently he wasn't lying after all).

    The only problem she was facing at the moment was the directions to his house. She knew he was in Stars Hollow but where exactly? She had no idea, all she had was his address.

    Her impulsiveness: 1, Her preparation: 0.

   She sighs heavily feeling as she should've maybe spent more time planning all of this trip of hers from point A to point B but then again a week ago she didn't even know she was going to make rational decisions in the first place. So there was that.

    But just as a prickle of panic starts to bubble inside of her, a voice further away from her catches her attention. "Stars Hollow exclusive! Come get your very rare town's souvenirs!"

    She glanced at the owner of the voice it was coming from, only to find it on the opposite street of her by the town's sign in front of a white gazebo. Everleigh wasn't sure what she was expecting when she found the person who caught her attention but staring at either a big town's fanatic or just a walking merchandise wasn't exactly on top of the list.

    Ignoring it all, she slowly makes her way to the guy who owned a simple white stand covered in all sorts of town's ornaments. The closer she got, she realized he was wearing a crimson red cap with a matching shirt — both saying 'I ♥ Stars Hollow' and she bit her tongue from making a comment.

    Instead the Morgan girl shows a bright smile towards the man sitting behind the table, "You by any chance don't sell any Stars Hollow maps here, do you?"

    The man looks up to her, his expressions not changing as he digs under the table to grab a map and place it on the table, "That would be ten dollars."

    The price definitely shocks her, "You're kidding? It's just a map."

    "It's a Stars Hollow exclusive map," He points a finger at her and she raises an eyebrow at him, "As you can see you have arrived on a busiest time of the year. August is the time people come and visit our town."

    She looks around the town. Part of her felt bad as to her it just looked like a normal day with no rush hours. Few people pass by here and there, kids running around playing chase, couples hand in hand. If anything she felt as if she was the only one visiting the town, "I'll give you five."

    "Ten dollars." He doesn't budge.

    She presses further, "Six."

    "Nine."

    "Two!" She narrows her eyes and holds out two dollars up in the air, "That's all I have."

    "I'm sorry no can do, ten dollars for a map, " He says with a shrug, "These specially designed maps were made by me and so is everything here. The Stars Hollow maps sell out quickly making this business run successfully."

    Tugging at her lip, a spark of an idea hits her and instantly acts on it. The girl groans loudly and covers her eyes as she mocks a cry, "I can't believe I'm so dumb. How am I supposed to find my twin brother now, all my life I've been looking and looking and this one time — "

     She throws her hands in the air, glancing at the guy who seems taken back with a sudden change of emotion. So she takes the next step and weeps, "— this one time I finally find my twin brother, I can't even meet him. All because some souvenir guy."

    He glances behind her and stars trying to make her stop with panic rushing through his eyes, "I-I didn't mean, — "

    "— He was expecting to see me in a few minutes," She continues, fighting the urge to break the character, " Oh, my, he probably thinks I stood him up. Great, now my brother-sister relationship with him is over. I came all the way from Latvia just for this to happen."

    She hides her face with her hands, letting out a loud cry and finally the souvenir guy gives in, "Fine, take it. You don't have to pay. J-Just don't tell Taylor."

    Instantly she stops the act and a wide smile now spreads on her face. Snatching the map from the table she spins around and walks to the same direction she came from. Hearing the souvenir guy shout after her, "I hope you enjoy your stay in Stars Hollow."

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    When her best friend, Dean said Stars Hollow was small, she didn't expect it to be quite literally small because the map she got was useless. She was happy she got the map at least for free and didn't waste ten bucks on it in the first place. (If she had, she'd be annoyed and would chase after the guy until he gave her back the money).

    As she continues scanning through the map, mostly to see what the town has to give without having to explore, the coffee server approaches her. She looks up to see him filling her empty cup with more coffee and that gives her joy. She also notes how he wasn't wearing the same uniform as the rest.

    No matter where she goes, no matter what places she visits, all the diners always stay the same. Like the diner she visited in Italy a month ago, the 1950s American Diner. Sure it might be a different style and a different atmosphere but they all dressed the same hence why they're called uniforms in the first place.

    "Why you're not wearing a uniform?" Everyleigh bluntly asks, pointing at his outfit; the red and grey flannel with denim jeans and the blue baseball cap worn backwards.

    "What?" His eyebrows crease together as he pulls a face at her.

    "Why you're not wearing — "

    "I heard you the first time." He retorts back, "Why do you need to know?"

    "That's a one way to speak to customers," Evereigh mutters to herself but loud enough for him to hear, "I just assumed with you coming from Shakespearian times, your hearing might be getting worse but I guess not."

    "If I wanted to hear a kid make comments on my appearance and how I do my job, I'd listen to Sally Field's speech all over again." He shrugs, his expression never changing.

    "Clearly you haven't seen Gwyneth Paltrow's take on it," states Everleigh with a chuckle. In her opinion Sally Field's speech wasn't all that bad, if anything she found it iconic and memorable, "So why you're not wearing an apron at least?"

    "I own this place." He states as if that wasn't obvious enough.

    "So you're William?" Everleigh asks.

    "That's my father. I'm Luke."

    "But it says William's Hardware at the front?"

    "My father owned this place." He squints his eyes

    "So it's not William's hardware?" She questions further.

    "No, it's Luke's. I'm Luke and I own this place now," He says as a final, waving hands in the air until he simply points a finger at her leaning forward and Everleigh pulls herself away from his finger, "Did Lorelai put you up to this?"

    "So I guess it's not William's Hardware," She mutters and he sighs heavily, his stare throwing daggers her way. She rolls her eyes, "No, Lorelai didn't put me up to this, I don't even know who she is. I'm just a girl trying to find my cousin Dean."

    "Forester?" Luke asks simply and her eyes light up, "What do you need from him?"

    The light in her eyes dull as fast as it appeared and raises a brow, "Do you always ask so many questions?"

    That seemed to cross the boundaries but the girl didn't budge, she just allowed it to happen and his frustration brought her joy, "That's it, have your damn coffee. I don't care. Just stop talking."

    He drops the coffee pot on her table, ready to walk back to the counter but as soon as the doorbell chimed, his attention — and so did hers, turn to two ladies walking in. One younger than the other. The youngest one had chocolate brown hair reaching just past her shoulders as she was wearing a burgundy shirt with loose jeans. Where the older one had a grey suit jacket matching with its pencil skirt, her hair a lot darker than the younger ones.

    She only assumed the two were sisters or mother and daughter because there was resemblance between the two.

    The two approached the diner guy — Luke, who instantly began to chat away with them. Whatever it was being said from the owner made them all glance at the teenage girl and make their way to her. Well, Luke seemed to be dragged by the older woman instead, her hand holding onto his arm. Everleigh automatically sits up straight and shoots a welcoming smile their way. The younger girl seems to recognize her as she starts smiling brightly, "I know you!"

    The Morgan girl takes a sip of the coffee, "You do?"

    "Yeah, you're Everleigh, right?" The girl asks but it came out more as a statement, "Dean's best friend?"

    "Uh... yeah?" Everleigh looks around and shifts her weight on the chair, not feeling all that comfortable that someone knew her before she knew them.

    "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Rory." The girl — Rory introduces herself with a smile still on her face, "Dean's girlfriend."

    Oh.

    The Rory.

    Of course she knew who Rory was. Sure, she may not have known what Rory looked like but she knew all about her. From the moment Dean met her, to the very last detail of her letting down Dean and being the cause of their break up. (Oh, yeah. She knew that and still was very much bitter of breaking her best friend's heart)

    Here's a thing, she didn't know Rory but she knew the idea of her and every best friend's instinct is to protect them and not like the person who hurt them. Once you break your best friend's heart, you automatically stay on the enemies list.

    She still remembers when Rory and Dean broke up a few months ago, he called her and just sat there in silence. She knew the second he wasn't responding to her something was wrong and once she found out why, Rory was on her list of people she wasn't keen on.

"I thought you said he was your cousin?" Luke interjects grabbing the coffee pot from her table.

Everleigh squints her eyes and purses her lips together, "I did?"

Luke rolls his eyes and points at Everleigh while looking at the older woman, "This is exactly what I was talking about."

Everleigh simply smiles and waves as the woman glances at her and pushes Luke away but doesn't object either. Rory laughs lightly and rubs her forearm, "It's so nice to finally meet you. Dean talks about you a lot."

"So does he about you," Her smile tightens but Rory doesn't seem to notice.

"Jeez kid," the woman brings both of the girls attention to her. She leans closer to Rory and wraps an arm around hers, " Making your mother feel very special right now."

Rory finally introduces her to the Morgan girl, the lady who turned out not only to be her mother but also named Lorelai. — The name she heard from Luke not all that long ago.

In the span of an hour she has been in Stars Hollow, she has learned more names than she probably should have. Maybe now, when she goes back to Chicago and Dean has yet another thing to mention to her about the town, she can finally put a face on it. Because so far, from the description Dean gave her about Luke wasn't the one she imagined.

"Sooo," Lorelai begins as she sits down opposite of Eveleigh and Rory follows her suite and sits down next to Everleigh on her right side, "How did you do it?"

Sure, by all means, join her. She thinks to herself and bites her tongue before she allows her thoughts to be heard by the two of them.

"Do what?"

"Get Luke so worked up?" Lorelai asks with a wide smile on her face.

Everleigh simply shrugs her shoulders, "It's my specialty. He seems like an easy target."

"I'm pretty sure, you just beat my mom's record," Rory starts nodding her head as she speaks, "Sometimes she reaches the point where the order is on him."

Everleigh's eyes widened at the statement. She leans in closer to them two and her voice lowers, "Can we do it? I want to see it."

"Watch this," Lorelai raises her eyebrows up and down as she shouts the diner's name, "Luke!"

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Okay maybe — maybe she has underestimated Lorelai. The woman had a lot to show and tell and quite frankly she didn't seem to be like any other moms she knew and met. Within minutes, Lorelai got all three of them free lunch and free coffee. In her eyes, it's a win-win situation. Free food and drinks always make her day.

At this point she wants to see how much more free stuff she can get in one day, she got the map for free, lunch and coffee. She can pull some more tricks on the way. May even get Dean in trouble but that's okay. Her chances of coming back to Stars Hollow are very slim, no one will remember her.

Yet, her plans are put on hold because she still was stuck with Rory and somehow managed to agree to go on a stroll around the small town while Dean was finishing his shift at the Doose's. Which she only learned was the town's go to store for groceries. She didn't mind the walk around the town, she really didn't. But what she did mind was the tension between Rory and her.

Rory was trying to make small talks with her or try and continue whatever the conversation they had going. Everleigh being Everleigh, didn't try.

That to others would seem as a problem but she has never been the one to waste time on people she didn't like. She can be civil with them but spending time outside of school, friends group, a job and so on she couldn't. It felt wrong and uncomfortable. She has always stuck to it, being civil with the ones she doesn't like and not wasting time pleasing others or wasting her energy. Something her dad taught her growing up.

Usually when she has an idea of someone she has heard of, she places her own opinion from the outsiders point of view. But when she finally has a chance to meet them, her opinion changes most of the time but not with Rory. She was nice... too nice.

Give her a chance, Dean told her once the two got back together.

And so she will try.

As the two teenagers find their way back to the Doose's Market, Rory waves at the doors leading inside, "Dean should finish in a couple of minutes if Taylor doesn't make him stay any longer because he seems to do that a lot when it comes to him."

Everleigh squints her eyes, "Taylor was..."

"The town selectman who owns the market," Rory finishes with a warm smile.

"Gotcha."

Silence starts to fill the air between them once again, until;

"Oh, I almost totally forgot," Rory tries again, "There's this guy who moved here almost a week ago and he is also from Chicago."

She really tried her hardest not to be blunt and make a comment about how Chicago is ten times bigger than Stars Hollow with loads more people. Meaning she mostly definitely does not know everyone there but instead she settled with nodding her head and a short reply, "Oh, cool."

"I met him yesterday as well, he is really funny. Dean and him get along really well. You should meet him before you leave. I'm pretty sure they are friends already."

Her eyebrows crease together, "Will keep that in mind."

And just like that the two fall in silence once again. Everleigh sways on her feet as she tries to glance through the doors and see if she can find her friend but doesn't see him anywhere near her sight. Rory notices the cold shoulder she was giving her so she finally decides to say,

"Well, Dean already knows," Rory starts, " but I have dinner with my mom and my grandparents. Grandma doesn't like it when we're late, so I should probably go home."

That chirps up her mood, "Oh, don't worry. Uh— Thanks for the tour around the town, it was helpful."

"It's okay, it was nice meeting you." Rory clasps her hands together and nods her head along the way.

"Yeah, you too, " Everleigh tries to smile back as she waves a goodbye to Rory. She turns around so she's no longer facing the Gilmore girl and sighs heavily closing her eyes.

This was exactly why she doesn't hang out with people she doesn't like. She simply doesn't know how to speak to them and Everleigh always finds something to talk about. That's how Dean and her became friends in the first place. Simply because she didn't leave him alone.

Without wasting more time, she steps inside the market and searches the place for the familiar face. It didn't take long until she noticed his tall frame at the back of the store, placing down the vegetable boxes and a wide smile spread on her face. She grabs the first thing that she sees on the way to him — only to realise it was flour.

As she approaches him, his back was facing her so she coughs to bring his attention to her, "Excuse me kind sir, but I've got some issues with this fine flour." He turns around his features lacing in confusion but that soon fades as he sees her. Overjoyed he leans down giving her a tight hug which she gladly returned.

All her worries, all her problems — everything bothering her seemed to disappear within the hug by Dean. She didn't realize she missed him as much as she did until she could embrace him in a hug. All the letters and all the phone calls could never replace this moment. Her smile never left her face and it was a relief seeing hers matched his, ''W-what? — What are you doing here?''

''Surprise?'' She shows off her teeth with shoulders pulled up and jazz hands, ''I know you hate surprises but that's why I'm your best friend. I get a pass.''

Dean laughs, shaking his head, ''Only this time."

She points at the green apron and chuckles, "I never imagined you working in a market, let alone wearing an apron.''

''You came all this way just to bully me?'' He gives her a look but his smile never falters.

"Hey, I also missed you," She says placing a hand on her heart, '' And this is my way of showing it.''

" Of course it is. "

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"So you met Rory?" Dean asks, placing his hands in jeans pockets.

Everleigh purses her lips together as the two continue walking by the lake, ''Yeah, so I did.''

After the two reunited she left the market for a few minutes and waited outside until Dean finished his shift. On her way out, she managed to run into the market's owner and had to introduce herself as Dean's step sister. She didn't exactly have to lie about who she was but wanted anyways. For the kicks, she would remind herself. Either way, Rory and Dean were not lying when they said everyone knows everyone here. The owner — Taylor, didn't recognize her but saw the two talking and was curious enough to ask her.

Once Dean was finally free and able to hang out, she filled him in on all her adventures here in Stars Hollow so far and how she met his girlfriend. The look he gave her clearly said it all and how uneasy the topic was

"And?" He continues pushing her opinion.

"She's...,"Everleigh trails off for a second, "...Nice.''

"Eve.'' He sighs.

"What?," She raises her shoulders and throws her hands in the air, "All I said was she's nice."

"Your definition of nice is definitely not nice." Dean states.

"Hey, I'm a changed woman, you haven't seen me in a year and a lot has happened." Everleigh points out. He really didn't know half of it and she felt bad because that was also one of the reasons why she came here in the first place. "No seriously, a lot."

"So you really think she is nice?" He questions.

"Oh, totally. What an Angel. " Everleigh keeps on nodding her head as she places hands on her hips, "I even saw halo floating above her head. Really adds to her as a person."

"Give her a chance, Eve." He sighs heavily, his tone lacing with sincerity, "I want you to like her and get along, that's all."

"One step at the time, buddy." The girl shakes her head, "I talked to her a solid an hour and half of my life gone just because I talked to her. We making progress."

"So if I spoke to Rory right now," Dean starts waving his hands around, making a point, "She'd say nothing bothered her about you."

"See if you put it like that —"

"Eve —"

" What?! I'm just saying."

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REFERENCES:

                          ☕️ "Their arrive spread faster than Lydia Deetz guessing Betelgeuse's name."

( movie — beetlejuice (1988) )

[ if any of you have seen beetlejuice, you'll know it didn't take all that long for lydia to guess his name. whether you've seen the movie or the musical (jealous if you have seen the musical live) they kept the same concept ]

                            ☕️ luke: "If I wanted to hear a kid make comment on my appearance and how I do my job, I'd listen to Sally Field's speech all over again."

                            everleigh: "Clearly you haven't see Gwyneth Paltrow's take on it,"

[ luke was referring to sally's oscar speech for winning best actress award and everleigh was also referring to the oscar speech for the best actress award. both being cringe-worthy and everleigh only mentioned gwyneth's speech because the oscars happened in march of 2001 and this chapter takes place in the end of july, which is only few months after the award show ]

( sally field — places in the heart (1985) )

( gwyneth paltrow — shakespeare in love (2001) )

✨☕️✨

   i might start making these references thing by the end of the chapter so you all know what's being referenced and not miss a thing. this will be my moment to shine.

     referencing classics? can't be anything better than this.

    everleigh annoying luke? i approve ;')

    rising awkwardness between rory and everleigh? gotta blast

     also before i start following the canon storyline there will be few chapters during the summer to start off and to fit in my story without feeling it rushed. the canon storyline will start on the third episode of season two and soon after that jess finally comes in and i genuinely cant wait for everleigh and jess to meet cause it's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions. no seriously, if you want to know, i even made a playlist on spotify dedicated to jess and everleigh from start to finish