── CHAPTER TWO ──

ROAD TRIP TO HARVARD

" RUNAWAY BRIDE "

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She found out who Taylor was the very next day, in fact, when all of Stars Hollow had reconvened at the ungodly hour of five am to host a town meeting in Miss Patty's dance studio, which was surprisingly put together for the sheer amount of years Lexi assumed Miss Patty had been working.

"I hate these things," Her Aunt muttered under her breath, drawing her arms tighter around her torso to conserve warmth, thankfully not surrounded by a cloud of smoke this time. Instead she was scratching her new nicotine patch, "and having it at this time of day is criminal."

Despite it being the middle of August, Lexi shivered alongside her Aunt, her jean jacket doing little to stop the biting winds of the early morning, "Then why'd you drag us out here?" She whined, converse hitting the pavement with each step, "You hate these things and I know you don't go to them."

Aunt Ella rolled her eyes and drew Lexi in for a side hug, sharing the warmth between them, "I thought it would be nice for you to meet more of the local kids, after all you're gonna be sharing a classroom with them until you graduate."

Lexi stared up at her Aunt, anxiously awaiting the real reason she had dragged them out to Miss Patty's this early in the morning when she was supposed to be squandering her summers sleeping in until twelve o'clock in the afternoon. After a moment of silence, her aunt released Lexi from her grip, "Besides, Miss Patty was the one that called the meeting, and she always knows how to make it fun."

"Ah, and the truth comes out," She spoke through a bleary gaze, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes, unable to stifle the tiny yawns that followed.

"Jesus kid," Aunt Ella stopped in her tracks, turning to face her niece and brushing a piece of dark hair away from Lexi's face, "I say this with all the love in the world, but you look terrible. Like, Robert Downey Jr levels of terrible."

Lexi gave her aunt the best withering look she could muster, but it was rather difficult when she couldn't even muster up the willpower to give out a witty retort, "Thanks, really feeling the love Auntie."

"I'm sorry baby," her Aunt pulled her in for another hug, rubbing her shoulders as they parted, "Tell you what, you go try and wrangle Luke into giving you a cup of coffee this early and I'll save us some seats." The older woman pressed a crisp ten dollar bill into her hand and pressed a kiss to Lexi's forehead.

The promise of coffee instantly lifted Lexi's spirits and she pocketed the ten before squeezing her Aunt's arm gratefully, "You're the best Aunt in the world you know that?"

Ella shrugged and itched her arm again, "I try. Now go get us some coffee."

Lexi almost sprinted toward the tiny diner, eager to get her hands on a cup of Luke's coffee, especially if she had to endure listening to bureaucratic issues of this tiny town for a whole hour.

Luke was just flipping his sign over when she pressed her way forward, the bell signaling her early start. Something in her gut made her smile when she saw his shoulders slump at the sight of her, already starting the coffee machine. "I had a feeling you'd be showing up," He grumbled, pulling out two large to go cups, "Especially with a town hall meeting right across the way." His eyes drifted behind her as she settled down onto the worn stools, elbows leaning against the counter as she tucked her hair behind her ears, "You didn't bring the she-devil with you?"

Lexi's lips quirked up in a smirk as she recalled the story Ella told her last night about her history with Luke, "Now, is that any way to talk about the woman you pined after for four years?"

His face turned bright red, all movement halting at the sound of her words, "She told you?"

"Oh, she told me everything," Lexi's smirk grew wider, her stomach curling with delight as she watched Luke grow more and more uncomfortable, "It sounds like you were the Ross to her Rachel, unrequited pining and all."

Oh yes, Lexi had eaten the entire story up like it was an episode of Dawson's Creek, and her Aunt had no qualms about sharing it.

Eleanor Campbell and Luke Danes, best friends, practically the It couple of Stars Hollow High, if you remove the fact that Luke never got up the courage to ask her out for anything and they were never even a couple. Not that it particularly surprised Lexi, Luke didn't seem like the kind of guy to tell a girl he liked her unless someone else goaded him into it.

So he stewed in his pining for years until it finally burst out of him in an act of aggression at the senior prom. Things were said, promises were broken, and they never spoke again.

And then years went by and Eleanor remained single, Luke remained stubborn and all that pent up tension went into ragging on each other and rebuilding what fragile strings of their friendship existed.

Oh yes, definitely a Ross and Rachel story if she'd ever heard one. And considering Ella had already filled her in on the actual girl named Rachel, that was saying something.

She was pretty sure Rachel was actually Luke's Diane than his...Rachel.

Okay this metaphor is officially confusing, she decided.

Luke merely scowled at her and handed her a bag along with her coffee cups. When she peered into the bag to see what it was, she found two styrofoam boxes stacked on top of each other, "Here, you never got your pancakes and bacon."

"You're just giving me food so I'll shut up about you and my Aunt aren't you?" Lexi questioned, her smirk widening even further until it almost resembled a smile. Luke said nothing, instead eyeing the styrofoam boxes and moving his gaze back to her. "You are! Wow, you really were gone for her weren't you?"

Luke stared her down, both hands on either side of the counter, not giving anything away, "You gonna eat your breakfast or should I save it for some other annoying kid with no respect for my privacy?"

Without saying another word, Lexi moved to grab the bag, almost halfway out the door when she remembered something crucial about her order. "Oh! By the way do you have any peanut butter?"

Luke blinked at her, "What?"

Feeling the blood rush to her face, she let out a sigh, "Peanut butter. I like it on my pancakes, and before you say anything, I know it's weird," She ignored the growing smile on Luke's face, "I just...I could use a reminder of home and I wanted—you know what forget it."

Luke stuttered out what almost sounded like an apology, although he couldn't keep the laughter from escaping him, "Hold on, I think I might have some."

Lexi waited for a brief second as Luke disappeared behind the kitchen wall, tugging on her jacket sleeve until the flannel clad man reappeared again, a small jar of JIF  in his hands, "Here, Larry ordered a couple extra, so...here."

The surly look on his face melted away for a brief moment as Lexi felt her face break out into a small smile, grasping the jar and stuffing it in the bag alongside the takeout food, "Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever, just...eat your pancakes and don't tell Taylor."

Lexi lifted up her brows again and took a sip of her coffee—for a small town diner, it really was some of the best coffee she'd ever tasted—smirking again, "Ah, yes, the elusive Taylor."

Luke arched just one of his thick brows, crossing his arms, "You'll see what I mean."

And she certainly did just a few moments later.

The town meeting was duller than dull, and that was mostly because of Taylor Doose, who was an overly excitable man with a penchant for cream colored cardigans. Which Aunt Ella made very vocal she did not approve of.

"I don't trust a man who wears a cardigan," she muttered under her breath, digging into the burger that Luke had stuffed in the other styrofoam container, "It's trying too hard to be grandfatherly, and I don't trust anyone who isn't a grandfather trying to be one."

Lexi nodded as she spread more peanut butter on her pancakes, "That's a good rule for life in general."

As she waited for Taylor to move on from his soapbox about the new traffic light and how too many people had already broken the precious rule that was 'no driving on yellow' with his threats to call the Stars Hollow Police Force—which from what Lexi had seen seemed to be made of one man and one woman—Lexi couldn't help but wonder when they were actually gonna get to the meat and potatoes of this meeting.

After all, Miss Patty didn't seem like the type to call a meeting unless she really wanted to share something or if she didn't think it was important. Taylor, however, struck her as exactly the person to drag the town into whatever minuscule affair was bothering him at the time.

No wonder her Aunt wanted to keep her weed stash a secret from him.

"Now I know we all do not agree with this newest addition to the Stars Hollow streets, but with all the accidents recently—"

"Are we ever gonna get to the point of this meeting?" A platinum haired woman sitting next to a man in a blazer and sunglasses asked with a husky voice, "Morey and I, well we got plans to meet up with Loner Joe."

"At five thirty in the morning?" Taylor asked, clearly in disbelief, "Babette—"

"Hey, Loner Joe is only available between the hours of midnight and six am, he's like one of those animals that only operates at night," The newly named Babette spoke up, the town erupting into a series of murmurs that caused a smile to break out on Lexi's face.

"Oh, so he's nocturnal," The words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them and soon the whole town was staring at her, some with confused looks on their faces, some glaring, but Babette and her husband sent her a smile.

"Yes, exactly sugar."

Taylor shook his head and began to stare her down, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

Lexi made a face and chowed down on another piece of bacon, "Uh, I'm Lexi, I just got here like yesterday,"

Miss Patty stood up with a fond look in her eye, "Oh! You're Eli's kid aren't you?" She nodded in response and Patty continued onward, "You know, you look just like your mother!"

The happiness that had taken place in her chest at the mention of her dad burst at the sound of Patty's observation, and Lexi's smile dissipated, slinking deeper into her seat and crossing her arms and legs. Her frown grew deeper and the only thing that seemed to save her surly mood was her Aunt wrapping an arm around her shoulder and offering her the leftover fries, which Lexi consumed happily.

"Alright, in the interest of saving time," Taylor spoke with a thinly veiled bitterness, "I will now be turning the floor over to Miss Patty, who apparently has something very important to discuss with us."

The older woman stepped up, her shawl dangling precariously off her shoulder, leaning closer to the microphone than Taylor had previously, "As I'm sure many of you know, the Medina-Gilmore wedding has been called off—"

"What?!" Taylor's outburst sent a myriad of whispers echoing through the room, many town residents turning in hushed voices to discuss what was apparently a hot button issue. "That wedding was supposed to increase our tourism value by 50% this weekend! What are we supposed to do now?"

Lexi wasn't even paying attention to the various arguments and disagreements that erupted from Miss Patty's words, instead leaning closer to her Aunt, "What are they talking about?"

Ella leaned in closer, taking another sip of her coffee, "A townsperson of ours was supposed to get married to some hotshot from Hartford this weekend," Lexi's brows lifted up in curiosity and her Aunt continued, "Apparently, Lorelai called the whole thing off last night, Patty and Babette were there for the whole thing. It was super messy."

Lexi's eyes widened at the news and she continued to chow down on the leftover fries, "Really? Did she give a reason?"

Ella shrugged, the rest of the town still murmuring and whispering while Miss Patty tried to calm everyone down, "It just wasn't working, so apparently she picked everything up and took her daughter college shopping." Lexi stared at her Aunt, who shrugged again, "Babette told me everything while you were at Luke's."

"Oooh, our very own Maggie Carpenter" She teased, drawing a smile and a nod from her Aunt Ella, neither of them saying anything more, just deciding to listen in on the drama of the town some more. Which, with how fast people talked, was much more difficult than she anticipated.

She missed every other word, although from context of the situation, she learned that Miss Patty had convinced the town to not bring up the wedding under any circumstances, and to act like nothing had changed.

Which Taylor was not happy about at all, but one look from Miss Patty silenced him and the meeting was adjourned.

Babette and Morey practically sprinted out of there at a speed Lexi had never seen people their age run before while Taylor got into another spat with Miss Patty as the town meeting broke apart. She and her Aunt finally managed to push their way out into the square, which at six am, had a pretty view of the sunrise. Lexi had never seen a sunrise before, mainly because she had no desire to get out of bed before eight am, unless it was a school day and even then it was a fifty-fifty chance.

At least at Stars Hollow High she wouldn't have to wake up at ungodly hours to drive thirty minutes to listen to a bunch of white men drone on about Huckleberry Finn or Catch-22. She'd only have to take a ten minute walk into town and could actually eat breakfast or drink a coffee before school.

Despite her desperate attempt to stay awake on two cups of coffee, her eyes fluttered shut as she started her fourth or fifth re-read of The Hobbit, soaking in the rays of sun as her brain finally fell quiet.

She was awoken a few hours later by a shadow blocking her sun, and a pair of brown eyes in a dark face was staring down into her own.

"Hey!" The black girl's megawatt smile was almost contagious, and she carried a thick purse that matched her green cargo shorts and complimented the white tank top she was wearing. "You're Lexi, right? Campbell?"

Lexi pressed herself up on her elbows, red tank top and denim shorts leaving her feel strangely naked underneath the gaze of the girl her age above her. She squinted, "Maybe, what's it to you?"

The girl's smile grew wider and she held out her hand, "I'm Abby, I'm supposed to be your guide in September but I figured since I saw you, I'd approach you and say hi."

Lexi tightened her lips and shrugged, "Well, Hi."

Without an invitation, Abby sat down right next to Lexi, her bright white tennis shoes nearly reflecting the sun she was blocking a few seconds earlier, "If you wanted I could totally help you with school shopping. I know all the great spots and since I work at the bookstore, I can definitely get you a discount."

Getting the strange feeling that this girl wouldn't leave her alone even if she took an ice pick to the eye, Lexi stood up and sunk her feet back into her slip on shoes, "Well, I can't argue with that," She planted her hands on her hips, "Let's go shopping then."

Her smile growing wide once more, Abby leapt up with a shriek, enveloping Lexi in a bear hug before grasping her hand and pulling her toward the south side of town.

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"Like, Robert Downey Jr levels of terrible."
( robert downey jr , april 4th 1965 - present )

"It sounds like you were the Ross to her Rachel, unrequited pining and all."
( f.r.i.e.n.d.s. , 1994 - 2004 )

She was pretty sure Rachel was actually Luke's Diane than his...Rachel.
( cheers , 1982 - 1993 )

"Oooh, our very own Maggie Carpenter"
( runaway bride , 1999 )

OTHER REFERENCES

Dawson's Creek

Huckleberry Finn

Catch-22

The Hobbit