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pre: red light on the wedding night
01. ❝ small town & full of surprises ❞
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   "So I spoke to Rory — " Dean starts as he places the two cups on the table; one with black coffee and the other with hot chocolate and sits down opposite her in the diner.

"— Good for you—" Everleigh interjects and grabs the coffee cup.

"— And she thinks you don't like her." Dean breaths out.

"She's not entirely wrong, is she? "

"Eve, we talked about this."

"Hey!" She puts her hand out for him to stop, "Your Sandra Dee is at the summer school and not here. I can voice my honest opinion about your precious girlfriend as much as I want." A sickly sweet smile starts making its way onto her lips as she brings the coffee cup closer to her lips.

"Who's Sandra Dee?" He questions.

"An actress but, you know," The girl waves her hands around to further her point, "Rory's well behaved, too nice and town's angel. She's a Sandra Dee kinda girl. "

Whatever comment Dean was ready to make was brutally stopped as another voice joined the conversation, a familiar one.

As she takes a glimpse at the person approaching them it was none other than the souvenir guy. — Who's name she learned was Kirk. " Dean, I'm so glad you're here. I wanted to publicly apologize to you and your twin sister."

Uh–oh.

The abrupt statement makes the girl choke on the coffee he was drinking.

Not only the two gave her an odd look but most of the people managed to glance in her reaction, even Luke himself.

"My twin sister?" Dean asks, shooting a questionable look her way, which she only tries to play off with a shrug as she tries to gain her breath back.

"I run into your sister once again," Kirk points at her and her eyes widen, "I wasn't aware you were the twin brother she talked about until yesterday and now that I have a better look at you two, there is no resemblance between the two of you but either way that's not my place to judge, so I came to apologize."

"Kirk, I appreciate the concern but we —" Her best friends waves a hand between her and himself, " Are —"

"Totally related." Everleigh finishes and Dean creases his eyebrows together with a tilt of his head.

"Wha—" Dean tries asking but she quickly steps on his foot under the table, getting a small yelp from him. She forces a smile onto her lips.

"What my twin brother Dean was trying to say is," Everleigh sits up in the chair, perking her chin in the palm of her hand while Dean sends a glare her way. Most likely because she stepped on his foot, "We all make mistakes.What matters is that you gave me a chance to spend two whole days with Dean here. He totally looks like my twin, we're practically identical."

(She may be enjoying this a tad bit too much);

Since her arrival at Stars Hollow, the first thing she did was introduce herself as Dean's something. A cousin, a twin, a best friend, a step sister, a niece and the list goes on and on. All because she wanted to pose as someone else.

Not a single person knew who she was unless they found out her name, then people knew. (Apparently she was popular within the small community all because of Rory and Dean). Nevertheless, she wanted to have some fun while she could.

While Dean was on one of his morning shifts yesterday, she went to explore Stars Hollow with Dean's little sister Clara — whom she already volunteered to babysit. The two girls found Everleigh's mischief plans amusing, so Clara decided to play along with her little white lies. (For a nine year old, Everleigh was very much impressed).

Which also led to this exact moment of Kirk approaching her and Dean. She just never assumed he would actually confront Dean about it.

Her best friend stares at her wide eyed, his attention dancing from Kirk to Everleigh trying to figure out his next words, "Kirk, could you excuse us for a moment?"

Kirk seems to hesitate for a moment until he realizes there seems to be a problem as Dean tries to silently communicate with his best friend but she avoided his eye contact as much as she could. Without further questions Kirk turns around and leaves. Not before Everleigh decides to wave a goodbye with a plastered smile on her face.

That however didn't last, once her eyes met with the guy sitting opposite her, the smile on her face drops as he continues to stare at her. Pulling a face she comments at his staring, "Take a picture, it lasts longer."

"Twin sister? Seriously?" He asks, raising a brow at the girl who simply brushes off the question. Glancing around he finds Luke staring at the duo. Realizing Everleigh could've said something worse to him — because she could do that, leans in with panic showing in his eyes, "What did you do?"

"Came up with multiple identities and hoping I don't get caught." She wiggles her eyebrows.

"What have you been telling people?" He asks further.

"Depends who you ask."

"Eve!"

"Relax, just that I'm your step-sister, half-sister, long lost friend — ooh that guy! — " She points at the older man walking past who was wearing a white flannel shirt with a brown vest on top, "I told him I was your exchange student from Latvia."

Following her gaze, he notices who she was pointing at, "You told Taylor you were an exchange student during the summer?" Everleigh nods her head, sheepishly smiling back at him. He takes a glimpse of Luke again. The diner owner seems to throw a few more glances at the two of them. Dean shifts his weight in his seat, "What about Luke?"

Everleigh drums her fingers against the table and squints her eyes, " I think I said a cousin? Or was it your ex girlfriend? I don't know, one of them."

"Eve!" Panic kicks in, as he leans in again but this time throwing his arms around, "He already doesn't like me!"

Everleigh moves forward, closer to him, "Well, that sounds like a you problem to me," She pats his face and takes a hold of her cup, "Tough love, baby."

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Not long after, Everleigh and Dean left the diner, Lorelai walked in sitting by the counter and drinking her usual big cup of coffee. The Gilmore waits for her daughter to show up so Luke took that as his chance to ask, "Are you aware Dean's been spending a lot more time with that girl?"

"What girl?" Lorelai asks.

"The one you and Rory sat down with two days ago."

Lorelai chuckles, "You mean Everleigh?"

"Yeah, I guess that's her name." He brushes it off as he grabs a fresh towel underneath the counter, " Don't you find it strange I've seen him more with her than Rory?"

"Woah, slow down, detective Harper," She says, putting down the coffee cup but her fingers still lingering around the cup, "Everleigh is Dean's best friend. As far as I know the two have known each other since they were ten."

Luke raises a brow at her, not all that convinced "How you know that?"

"He talks a lot about her to me and Rory. Besides, I think her visiting Dean makes things easier for Rory. " Lorelai states the obvious as she waves her hands around, "At least she can focus more on curriculum points for Harvard that she's been freaking out over since the day she found out."

"And Rory's fine with it?" He questions more.

"Yes, Rory's fine with it." Lorelai sighs closing her eyes, her shoulders slouching in the process." She wanted to meet Everleigh all this time plus Rory told me she has a boyfriend. So drop it big guy."

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Having a summer with no plans was very strange. Everleigh could say that with no doubt because for eight whole years her summers were spent in a summer camp. Not a year skipped. As soon as her summer started, she'd be packing away already.

It may have not started off as something she wanted when she was eight but eventually year by year it grew on her. — In a way it became a routine she started to adore.

Just because of the summer camp only, she met a girl named Agnes Lopes and the two became inseparable since day one. Ironically enough when Everleigh and her dad moved to Chicago and she became friends with Dean, he introduced her to the rest of his friends. One of them being none other than Agnes herself.

Her summer camp friendship turned into a real one and that was a sweet memory she cherished for a while.

That's why it also was so hard for her to think about Agnes right now.

"You know," She starts, bringing Dean's attention back to her as she tries avoiding her thoughts overflowing with her other best friend, "This is the first summer I've spent not in the Windsor Mountain Camp."

The two carry on aimlessly skipping through the channels as they sit on the couch. They had no other plans to make but to spend a rainy day on the couch with a TV in front of them. Everleigh was just glad some things haven't changed between one another, even if they live miles away.

Dean turns to look at her, "Does it feel weird?"

"Very weird and very disappointing." She exhales as she grabs the pillow and hugs it, "I had eight years to find my twin sister from London I never knew I had but that didn't happen."

"Just keep on dreaming." He encourages her with a tint of joy.

"Will do."

"Hey, I mean, your next try can be Yale," He suggests with a raise of shoulders," See if you can find a sister there."

Her small smile starts to fade away as she looks down at the pillow she was hugging so tightly. "If I get in."

Getting into Yale was a dream, any Ivy League School was a dream to her. — A very big and almost impossible dream to reach but she wanted it. Whether it's Yale, Dartmouth or Brown, she'd be happy to get in any of them. She just wanted to prove someone like her can get into school like that and she didn't need anyone to help her besides her dad. Everleigh just wanted to prove people wrong.

Seeing the defeat in her eyes he bumps his shoulder against her, "You will."

The tiny smile starts to return as she glances at him, "You're more confident than me and we all know that never happens."

"Because it has been your dream as long as I can remember," Dean reassures, " You're trying to do everything you can to get in. I mean, you went to Windsor Mountain for eight years straight and you're taking ASL lessons. If any of your chosen universities don't decide to accept you, they're idiots."

She tilts her head and scrunches up her nose, "Aww, look at you and trying to be reassuring."

Her best friend rolls his eyes, "I'm serious, Eve. Don't let anything stop you."

Instead of another one of her remarks she sighs and nods her head. She pays attention to how his mouth gapes open trying to find words to say and she frowns, "What?"

He hesitates for a second and looks away, "I wanted to ask you before but I was speaking to Blaze a few days ago," Her heart drops at his name, "Did something happen between you two? Because every time I mention his name you start acting weird and he acts the same around yours."

There it was.

She knew the topic was going to come up, she just knew it. After all, Blaze and Dean were friends; she just didn't know the two kept in touch that much. Everleigh had no idea how to answer Dean, she didn't want to lie but she always didn't want to tell the truth either. Mostly because she wasn't ready to say it out loud herself.

At this point she didn't even know if her boyfriend was her boyfriend after all. They haven't spoken to one another since last week, she just fully shut him out without any explanation. She pushed anyone who was part of her friends group. Besides Dean. She needed space.

She looks down as her eyebrows knit together, ''Y-yeah, Blaze and I are fine."

Dean didn't believe it.

Nor did she.

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     Okay maybe Dean's friends here weren't all that bad after all. The girl would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous at first. There was a thought in her mind that the title of Dean's best friend would always stay as hers. Just like it does in Chicago but meeting his friends; Kyle and Lydia, she realized things have changed and she wasn't really used to that type of feeling.

Don't get her wrong, she had nothing against them, she enjoyed their company and how friendly they were. She just didn't realize how different their lives were becoming as they slowly reached their adult years and that really sucked.

She just hoped the two don't drift apart the older they become. That was her only issue.

Instead of sulking deep in her thoughts, Lydia brings her attention back on them as the group stroll though the Stars Hollow with ice cream in hands, ''You know, the amount of times Dean mentioned you I was starting to suspect you were just his imaginary friend.'' Lydia comments.

She arches her brow as she glance at Lydia and Dean, "Really?''

Kyle decides to join in as he walks around the group so he could walk next to Everleigh, "Oh, yeah totally. Lydia and I had a theory you didn't exist and you were just an excuse he had friends back in Chicago."

''Well,'' Everleigh looks at Kyle who seemed somewhat way too happy she was fully paying attention to him. Lydia and Dean roll their eyes at him, "When we just became friends he did have —"

''No, I didn't.'' Dean stops her before she could finish with a chuckle.

"You didn't even let me finish." She leans slightly forward to make eye contact with her best friend standing the furthest away from her.

"Because I know what you're going to say." He bobs his head.

"Oookay, before you two get in a heated argument,'' Lydia glance at Everleigh and Dean as she makes them all slow down their pace by Doose's, ''Let's just grab some popcorn and continue this back at mine.''

"I don't think I can,'' Kyle announces to them, "My parents want me home in an hour.''

Lydia puts her hands in the coat pockets, "I mean I live five minutes away from Doose's, you'll make it back in time."

That seems to light his spirit, ''Cool.''

Just as all of them start making their way inside the market her pager beeps and she falls behind. Telling the others to go inside, she pulls out the pager, only to find a message from her dad. Reminding, she has to be back in New York in two days.

Exhaling heavily she puts the pager back in her pocket and as she is ready to go inside the market a voice calls out her name. All too familiar voice, "Eve?''

Her heart instantly drops, turning around and facing him. The reason. The only reason why she was in Stars Hollow was because of him. She tried running away from her problems and responsibilities, only to be back to square one. She was more confused why Stars Hollow of all places.

Not being able to utter a word he takes a step closer to her but she takes a step back. Her boyfriend's shoulders fall, "What are you doing here?" He asks.

''I don't know. Ask Agnes." Looking away, she grabs the strap of her shoulder bag and holds onto it, "Maybe she knows."

In reality she wanted to ask the same question because that's all it was running through her mind right now.

Blaze tries to take another step closer to her but noticing how she flinches away he stays put, ''Can we talk about that, please?'

" I'm not in a mood to talk. "

He laughs dryly, "You can't just not speak to me.''

"I can make it a challenge." She suggests as she crosses arms over her chest.

"Eve," He calls out her name, making her look up at him, ''I really am so sorry. I tried reaching out —"

"Yeah the dozen orange gladiolus bouquets with cards kinda gave me a hint." She admits.

Everleigh wasn't lying. He sent her loads of flowers, even right before she left Chicago, another bouquet of gladiolus arrived. She gave him props for combining her favorite color with favorite flowers and part of that made her happy but that wasn't enough.

"You didn't tell me.'' Blaze says looking down to his shoes. She could practically hear sadness through his voice and it broke her heart.

"Yeah and you didn't tell me you were going out with my so called best friend behind my back." She shakes her head, looking down as her eyes slowly start to gloss.

" I wasn't." He takes a step closer to her, "Eve, nothing happened between me and her. Nothing.— ''

" I don't want to hear it.'' She tells him. Inhaling sharply she raises her head up.

Suck it up, she thinks to herself as she tries to not break her walls in front of him.

''So much happened while you were in Italy, I didn't have time to tell you I moved here."

That brings her attention back to him. She could just feel her heart shattering in million pieces, ''What?"

    "My uncle Morey lives here," Blaze starts, "That's why we decided to come here."

She shakes her head in disbelief, "So what? You were not going to tell me? Are you serious?!''

"I was going to tell you when I found out for sure but it was also the same night — "

"Whatever,'' She closes her eyes, not wanting to relive the same night again, 'I don't want to hear about it.''

"Let's talk," Blaze reaches out, grabbing her hand but this time she didn't step back, "Nothing happened between me and Agnes. I promise you."

Sighing, she pulls her hand out of his touch, "I need more time to think, Blaze."

     Knowing there was nothing that would convince her to talk to him, he looks away in defeat, ''Okay."

     Before he could try and talk to her she turns away from him and makes her way inside the market. Not before sighing heavily and putting a wide smile onto her face.

    At this point too much was going on in her head to process. She wanted to speak to Blaze. Not speaking to him was a torture but having to bring up the night she found out her best friend Agnes kissed Blaze was also not what she wanted.

   Not only that but he moved away?

   Yeah, she really wanted to know where she went wrong in life to deserve this type of heartache at once.

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REFERENCES:

                            ☕️  everleigh: " your goody-goody is at the summer school and not here. i can voice my true opinion about your precious sandra dee as much as I want. "

actress — sandra dee ( born. april 23, 1942 ; died. february 20, 2005 )

[ sandra dee is pretty much used as a nickname now to describe someone who is very proper, has good manners and well groomed appearance. sandra was very much like that as a person as well and back then the public loved her ]

—

                            ☕️ lorelai: " slow down, detective harper. "

movie — the drowning pool ( 1975 )

[ originally i was going to use the book as a reference but then again book references are rory's thing and not lorelai's but if anyone is confused by the reference; harper is a private detective and in the movie he was asked to help out a woman who was worried her husband knew she was cheating on him. in this scenario luke thought dean was cheating on rory with everleigh ]

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                            ☕️ everleigh: " i had eight years to find my twin sister from london but that didn't happen."

movie — the parent trap (1998 )

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okay listen,,,, this chapter might have sucked big time but like im trying to get through these chapters to start following the canon storyline